Brilliant and Dangerous
by InsaneGrizzlies
Summary: Jasper is a brilliant studious student, while Alice is the party girl in NY. When they wind up in the same house, flying sparks barely covers it. Are they doomed to heated arguments or can they learn to see past that? Collaboration with Irritable Grizzzly
1. Chapter 1

**So the two Grizzlies decided to get together and make a story. We hope you like it. **

_**Yep, that we did. And of course they'll like it, how could they not? ;) Enjoy away!**_

JPOV

Calculus, I grimaced, as I stared at the computer screen. I was still disgruntled that I had it at the best time for my schedule… with the worst teacher possible. At least my other class was a breeze – Civilizations with Stewart. Only complete numskulls couldn't get an A in his class. Hopefully it would balance out the negative of taking calculus.

I clicked off and got up, stretching. I already had most of my Senior Project completed, so I wasn't worried about that aspect like most seniors were. I'd learned long ago - back in kindergarten - that doing everything as soon as possible made life multitudes easier. So my break between first and second semester was completely relaxing.

That is, if you didn't count the exhausting, hair-pulling family get-togethers, the anxiety of waiting for college replies - which wouldn't come for another two months - and my parents insisting I go back and make sure everything was perfect for Senior Project. Of course, I had done that about a thousand times already, but hey, what was one more?

At least there was just one more week until I could escape their badgering for most of the day. There was one thing to be said for being at school from seven in the morning to six at night. You had plenty of time to avoid parents and badgering. We even had plenty of time for homework, since every other day had a free period, especially with classes that lasted an hour and a half, and ran on an A-day/B-day schedule. That is, until you factored in college classes among the high school ones, with college essays, tests, expectations.... And yet, we Middle College High School students always seemed to do better than the average college student at San Joaquin Delta College.

Going to high school and college at the same time could be hard, but we students were given plenty of opportunities to get the work done during school time. The "hard" work never felt difficult to me, and I had always excelled. Sometimes I still had to work for my "A", but I always got it. GPAs were important, and I wasn't about to let mine suffer for any reason.

Falling back onto the couch, I pulled out my cell and called Bella. She answered just before the voicemail picked up, and sounded snappy.

"What?"

"Hello to you too," I chuckled, smiling. "What, did I interrupt a book?"

"As a matter of fact, you _did_." she stated with a regal attitude before laughing at herself. "Seriously, though. What?"

"Are you sure you won't take calculus with me?"

She groaned. "Jasper, I told you - I don't do math. I wouldn't have even passed pre-calculus if you hadn't helped me. So, no, thank you. I'll stick to Civilizations class with you, and Humanities."

"Those are easy," I accused.

She laughed again. "Of course they are. It's our last semester as high-schoolers, Jasper. Why would I make my life more difficult by taking _hard_ college classes?"

"Lazy ass," I teased. She just laughed. Bella had a point, which was why I had taken Civ instead of a biology class.

She sighed. "I can't believe we're never going to see each other again after this semester."

I groaned and laughed at the same time. Bella could be so dramatic. "Bella, we'll still see each other, and keep in touch."

"It won't be the _ same_," she lamented. "We won't see everyone every day. I'm gonna miss all 58 of you, and even some of the underclassmen. Emails and phone calls won't fill that ache when you're all gone. Very few people actually manage to keep up communication for more than a few months, if that. What will I do without you and my girlfriends? I'll be lost and have a broken leg faster than you can say 'Bob's your uncle.'"

I just laughed at her. "Chill, Bells. I'm sure it won't be that bad. Besides, isn't Mai going to the same college as you?"

"_If_ we get in - and if I can steal her away from her parents," she added. I snorted. Sometimes I had to wonder about her.

"So, how early are you getting to school when we go back?" I asked. It was the end of our third week of winter break, and after next week, we were back for our final semester as Middle College students. It would be daunting if I stopped to think about it.

Bella snorted. "My class isn't until ten Jasper. There is no way you are getting me there any earlier than nine-thirty."

Bella was lucky - mine started at eight in the morning, but it was better than the alternative - which would run into our lunch time. I had learned last year _that_ scenario was _not_ pleasant. It was almost unbearable.

You learned to deal with situations that you didn't like, such as having a class when you didn't want it or with a teacher who wasn't the easiest. It was how things were at our school. We weren't like every other high school in the area. It didn't let out in the early afternoon, and there was hardly ever extra credit. Grades were honestly worked for, and the teachers expected you to turn things in on time and to do the work and take it seriously. They wouldn't listen to excuses.

Or course, everyone was here because they wanted to be - or their parents wanted them to be - but in the end, very few if any of us wanted to leave. At such a small school, we were close, almost ridiculously so.

"So," Bella said, interrupting my wandering thoughts of our school. "You are _finally_ going to buy the yearbook when we go back, right?"

I laughed. Bella was in the journalism class, which was taught by the math teacher. She ran the newspaper, and even helped with yearbook pages - and she called _me_ an overachiever….

"Yes, Bella. I have the check in my wallet."

"Good," she said firmly. "There is no way you can't have one this year."

I could sense another lament coming on, so I changed the subject. "Have you seen anybody from school?" I asked. Bella lived in Stockton, the city where the school was located, and I lived in the next town over, Lodi. Even though the school was located in Stockton, it was part of Lodi district.

"Yeah," she said casually. "A couple of the guys and us girls went to see that new movie that came out. It was terrible; the only saving grace was the comments the guys made."

I chuckled, able to accurately imagine what the few other guys in our grade had said. "That bad, huh?"

She laughed loudly. "Worse. At least there was ice cream afterward."

The rest of the conversation was about unimportant subjects. Bella's family was the opposite of mine - she could probably fail all her classes this semester and her parents would still tell her she was brilliant and that it was okay. How she managed to get A's, read her countless books, and hang out with all her friends I'd never figure out.

By the time we hung up, my mom was home from work.

"Jasper!" she exclaimed, her grin wide and bright, "Guess what I found today during my break!" She came over and set a thick paperback book, much like the SAT practice ones, in my lap. I raised a brow at the title. _Scholarships, Grants & Prizes_.

She continued as I internally sighed. "You can look through it and find even more free money! Then you can go to Harvard or another one of those famous universities and we won't have to worry about the cost!"

I smiled at her. "Thanks, Mom."

Just a rather typical day in my life – well, when school wasn't in session. Still, there was one focal point in my life, and only one, and nothing came before it: get perfect grades so I can go to a well-known, expensive university and get more perfect grades so I can have a high-paying job and never have a worry in life.

I just had to get through all these daily worries first.

--

APOV

Oh God. Oh God oh God. They were supposed to come home tomorrow. _Tomorrow_. Why did they not choose to tell me they were home early until _after_ they landed at JFK?

I thought I'd have all day today to clean up from the debauchery that went down last night.

"George! Go to the backyard! There's a ton of bottles out there!"

"Huh?" was the only response I received.

Shitshitshit. I don't know why I'm even trying. It's not like I can get this done before they get home. Maybe I can at least get it cleaned up to the point where they won't know just how massive the party was. I wonder if they'll notice I charged the DJ on the black AMEX…oh, and the bartender.

I had a huge Hefty bag and I was flinging bottles into it.

"GEORGE!" I screamed. That got his attention. My scream could wake the dead.

"Backyard! Bottles! NOW!" I pointed strenuously. He moved as if in slow motion, grabbed a Hefty bag and headed towards the backyard.

I could move fast, but I couldn't turn back time. Plus, my "helper" wasn't exactly working at full capacity. He was a good guy. It's too bad I was going to break up with him before school started. He was adorable, just not the sharpest tool in the shed.

I probably looked like death warmed over. My usually spikey hair hadn't been brushed since before the party and I was still in last night's choice of dress – something my parents didn't even know I owned. It didn't leave much to the imagination and it looked like I slept in it. I don't want to think about what my face looked like. Probably "clown" would be the best description. Waterproof mascara can only take so much. I would die if anyone saw me like this. Alice Cullen never ever didn't look put-together.

I was standing on the couch, reaching for a pair of boxers that somehow wound up hanging from the ceiling fan in the living room, when my parents walked in. I froze. What could I do now? There was no getting around what happened. The horrified look on their faces said it all.

"MARY-ALICE CULLEN!" my mother screeched. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPPENED HERE?" My dad just stood behind her, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, completely mute.

Crap. She used my full name.

"I'm sorry Mom. I was planning on getting a cleaning crew to come in today, but you surprised me by coming home early," I said sweetly, trying to look sheepish and cute at the same time. Being under five feet tall helped with the cuteness thing. However, the look on my mom's face let me know I needed to cut this shit out. She was beyond furious. I'd never seen her so livid before.

"This is it, young lady! We are through with your behavior, aren't we, Carlisle?" She looked back at my dad who continued to have that wide-eyed expression. I think he had gone into shock or something.

At this point George walked in with his Hefty bag full of bottles.

"I need another bag. There's still a lot more…" He froze, taking in the scene in front of him. Then he just dropped the bottles and ran out the back door.

"COWARD" I screamed. Well now I was _definitely_ breaking up with him.

"Mary-Alice. This is it. I warned you the last time that I was not going to take this behavior anymore!" Wow. She sounded serious.

"Esme…" Thanks for coming out of the coma, Dad. I could really use your help right about now. "She knows what she did wrong, don't you sweetheart?" he asked, looking at me encouragingly.

"Yes! Yes I do! I fully and completely understand that my actions have been reprehensible! You can go ahead and ground me!" I was flailing. I had been grounded so many times, I'm surprised I've been out of the house at all in the past six months.

My mom sighed. "The groundings don't do any good." She wasn't angry anymore. She just looked…disappointed. That was far worse. I sunk down onto the couch. She came and sat beside me. My dad kept taking in the new decorations.

"I'll get the rest of the bags and call the cleaning crew," he said, and went out to the car. Mom came and sat beside me and took my hands. She looked at me and the saddest most defeated expression was on her face. I felt like the worst daughter in the world. Tears came to my eyes.

"Mom, I'm so so so sorry. I don't know why I do these things. I can't seem to help myself." I put my head down. I couldn't stand to look into those sad eyes anymore.

My mom sighed. "Honey, we both know groundings don't work. I've just come to the end of my rope here. I don't know what else to do. I'm going to have to do something drastic. I'm just not sure yet what it will be."

I looked at her. "Drastic"? That didn't sound good.

"How drastic?" I asked with a trembling voice.

"Very," she said, with a determination I'd never seen in her. It scared the life out of me.

"I have an idea, but I have to iron out the details. Once I'm sure, I'll let you know. Now please, go upstairs to your room." She was looking down now.

I got up on heavy legs and walked towards the stairs. Dad was just bringing in the last suitcase and he noted the sad expression on my face. I gave him a weak smile.

"Thanks for trying Dad," I said, and headed up the stairs to await whatever drastic measure was coming my way. This would be the worst day of my life. I was sure of it.

**So, B, what do you think? Is Alice in as much trouble as she thinks she is? Will Jasper _ever_ loosen up?**

**_I don't know, D. Jasper, loosen up? Sounds kind of absurd to me.... _  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, when last time we left them, Alice went to her room to contemplate what her punishment could be, while Jasper was doing what he does best: worrying. **

**_And now the Grizzlies continue the torture- I mean... the story._  
**

Chapter Two

_That girl is so dangerous  
That girl is so dangerous  
That girl is a bad girl  
I seen her type before she's so dangerous  
That girl is so dangerous  
That girl is a bad girl yeaaah_

~ Dangerous by KARDINAL OFFISHALL

APOV

After going to my room, I took a shower and scrubbed myself clean. I was hoping that if I looked more innocent, my punishment might not be as severe. I also made sure my room was clean. I was contemplating anti-punishment tactics, when I heard a knock at my door.

"Come in," I said sweetly.

The look on Esme's face did not encourage me. It told me that she already had her mind made up and the news wasn't good. I had been hoping she would talk to me before she made her decision. That hope was gone. The only thing I could do now was pray I could talk her out of it.

She sat down on my bed and I sat beside her. She was looking down. Not a good sign.

"You've decided on the punishment, haven't you?" I said cautiously.

"I don't want you to look at this as a punishment, because it's not. I'm just worried about you and I don't know what else I can do." She looked at me pleadingly.

I probably looked horrified. It's how I felt. The hammer was coming down and it wasn't going to be pretty.

She took a deep breath. "Honey, you know your father and I love you…" _uh oh_ "and we only want what's best for you…" _OH NO_…"…so we're sending you to California to stay with my friend Catherine Whitlock."

Wait. Hold the phone. What now? That doesn't sound like punishment! Of course, I'll need a new wardrobe. The vibe and the weather are completely different in L.A.

"Why Los Angeles?" I questioned, when my rational mind took over.

"I never said Los Angeles. I said California. Central California, to be exact."

There's a _Central_ California? Is it better than Los Angeles? I was confused. She must have noticed my expression.

"My best friend and sorority sister from college, Catherine Whitlock, lives in Lodi with her son Jasper. He's the same age as you are. He's already taking college classes and is looking at which Ivy League college he will attend. He – "

"…sounds really boring. Mom, why are you sending me to stay with your friend and her boring son?" This started out so promising, but now I was beginning to worry.

"Honey, you need to concentrate on your studies. I'm afraid that with the way you've been going, your grades will begin to slip…"

I had to cut her off there.

"Mom! My GPA has stayed a consistent 3.8. You can't use that on me!"

"OK, I'll agree that you haven't let your grades slip…yet, but what about colleges? Have you thought about which one you'll go to? What your major will be? What sort of requirements you have to fulfill to get into a good college? Your GPA is not nearly enough."

"I don't have to think about that _ now_. I have plenty of time! I'm young. I should be enjoying my life," I whined. The whining probably wasn't helping with getting her to change her mind and see what an adult I've become.

"That's the problem Alice. Your focus has been having a good time," she countered.

I thought a minute. "What if I promised to really buckle down? I'll…send away for a brochure or something." That sounded lame, even to me.

"Alice, I'm not saying you're going to have to live there forever. I just think Jasper will be a good influence on you. You have no direction. No purpose. He can help you. He already has all the 'brochures' and since he's already taking college courses, he can let you know what you can expect."

I pouted. She was making sense, but the thought of going to live with her friend and Mr. Pocket Protector did not fill me with happiness. I admitted defeat.

"How soon am I leaving?" I said in the saddest tone I could muster. Maybe I could make her feel bad and she wouldn't make me go.

She sighed. "A week from tomorrow. Catherine will register you for school so when it starts up again, you'll be able to go. She'll be signing you up for college classes as well."

My eyes widened.

"That's right. You'll also be attending school for more hours too. I'm sure Jasper will fill you in on the details," she said, signing my death certificate.

"Mom, please! I'll do anything! This will kill me. Whatever you want me to do, I'll do. Just name it. You can't send me away. Am I that bad that you don't want me to live under the same roof with you?" I began to cry. This was all just too much for me to take in.

Esme pulled me to her and held me.

"Oh Alice, never think that! I love you with all my heart and want you with me. I just want to see you make the best of your life. You're a very smart girl with a good head on her shoulders. All you need is some direction and I don't think I could adequately provide that for you, and your father – well - he's just a pushover. One look at him with your puppy-dog eyes and he'd do whatever you wanted. It's better this way, really. It's just for this last year of school."

I pulled away and looked at her with tear-filled eyes.

"There's really nothing I can say at this point that will make you change your mind, is there?" I said, trying to give her the best puppy-dog eyes I could muster. They weren't as effective on her, but they did work sometimes. This wasn't one of them.

She shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry Alice, but it's really for the best. I know you can't possibly see it that way now, but it is."

Parents are always saying that crap. I didn't think it could possibly be true.

"Just know that your father and I love you and only want good things for you. I meant it when I said this wasn't a punishment." She looked into my sad eyes and knew she wasn't going to make me believe I was going to look back on this as a good idea. She hugged me again.

She said, "I love you Alice. Always remember that," and then walked out, closing the door behind her.

I grabbed a Kleenex off of my nightstand and dabbed my eyes and blew my nose.

I heard another knock. Dad, of course.

"Come in," I said tearfully.

Carlisle took one look at my face and melted. He came to me quickly and enveloped me in a hug.

"Dad, you couldn't talk her out of it?" I said, holding onto a shred of hope.

"Afraid not. You know your mother. Once she's made a decision, she's a tough nut to crack," he joked.

I laughed a little despite myself.

"Yeah, and unfortunately we know who wears the pants in this family," I said playfully.

He chuckled. "As if there was any doubt. Both the women in my family have me wrapped around their little finger. I realized early-on it was best to just succumb."

Fear suddenly gripped me as the realization of my life turning upside down really hit me.

"Oh Dad, I don't know if I can handle this! Living in a strange house with people I've never met. I'll be so alone!" I complained.

He laughed. "Alice, since when have you been alone for very long? I'll bet a week after you get there you'll have a boyfriend and at least one best friend so you can tell her all the details."

I laughed too. He knows me so well.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up. I know you fought for me as best you could, but there's no way you can win a fight with a Cullen woman!" I said, trying to make both of us feel better.

I got a much bigger laugh that time. He pulled me close and kissed the top of my head.

"You really do know your dear old dad so well," he said with pride.

I nodded against his chest and hugged him closer, committing this feeling to memory. I needed to draw on his strength. I had a feeling this was going to be a very trying year.

JPOV

I stared at my mom for a good minute before slowly and flatly repeating the ridiculous words she'd just said. "So, in other words, a delinquent is moving in with us and going to MCHS."

Well, okay. It wasn't in those _exact_ words, but I could read between the lines. Our English teacher made sure of that within just months of his class. Mom had simply said that in terms that only people who could think deeply would grasp what she was really saying.

Mom _tsk_ed impatiently. "Jasper, please, she is not a delinquent. Her mom simply thinks that you would be a good influence on her, and that your school will really help her buckle down."

I raised a brow. "Sounds like a delinquent to me."

Mom glared and I shut my mouth, not wanting to push my luck too much so soon. When she was convinced I wasn't going to argue the point, she continued, "She should be here just before school starts, so you'll have to help acquaint her with how things work."

"How _did_ you get her into MCHS?" I asked; the school was already filled to over-capacity, and new students were a rarity, especially in upper classes, and even more so in the middle of the year.

Mom shrugged, turning into the kitchen to start dinner. "I spoke with your principal."

I rolled my eyes; Mom had been head of the PTSA for the past two years, and Ms. Balian loved her. Due to that little fact, I was on her list of favorite students, which were few and far between. I could probably get away with almost anything, not that I was willing to try. I followed my mom and grabbed the rice packet sitting on the stove, glancing over the directions in disinterest.

"How is she going to manage to get into any Delta classes?" I was trying to find some fault with this plan my mom and her friend had cooked up; some way to get out of babysitting a delinquent.

With an irritated glance, she replied, "I'm sure there are classes she can get into, Jasper. Easier classes - something that will help her ease into college life. From what Esme said, she really is a bright girl, despite her behavior problems."

I snorted. Great, my mom was a liar; a bad one. The easy classes were always the first to go. This left her being wait-listed or in harder classes, unless Mom had pulled some more strings or something.

Seeming to know where my thoughts were, Mom snapped, "Jasper, she's coming. I've already made all the arrangements with Esme, and I've promised her it was no trouble and that you'd help ease her into her new school. Stop being so immature."

Reluctantly, maybe a little petulantly, I figured I had better get some basic facts about the delin- I mean... the girl. "What's her name?"

"Mary-Alice Cullen. She's from New York," Mom added. I just barely avoided groaning. Someone from New York was moving _here? _ To _Lodi?_ That was just asking for trouble. Bad enough when people from Stockton came and raised a ruckus , but _New York?_ She'd probably get arrested for noise pollution within ten minutes of reaching the city limits.

Putting the box of rice back on the stove, I finally asked the six million dollar question. "When will she get here?"

"Saturday," Mom answered, and then turned away, letting me know the discussion was closed.

I managed to keep my groan back until I had walked into my room and closed the door firmly behind me. I walked over to my desk where the papers from the previous year's taxes were scattered. I'd have to go back and fix things up for this year's, but I wanted to turn the FAFSA in as soon as I could. That way I could have my financial plan sooner and be able to make some good estimates about how much I would have to pay for my tuition, not including my parents' help or scholarships and grants. Would the money I'd been saving in my bank account for the past couple of years be enough to cover most costs, or would I have to get some loans? Probably the loans, I thought, falling into my chair and peering at the computer screen for where I'd left off filling out the paperwork. I hear that about the time you finish paying off student loans, you're ready for retirement. Fun. Though Mrs. G, the AVID teacher, had shared some tricks on how to make that a little easier to avoid. Such as paying the interest off every month so in the end, there wouldn't be any.

When Mom called that dinner was ready, I was pretty much finished and felt less anxious about it all. The FAFSA stuff, not the New York Delinquent. Dad had gotten home while I was working, and was looking through some paperwork he'd brought to the table.

I half-listened as Mom talked about something that happened at work today which was the fault of someone being inefficient. "That's why you must always be on top of things, Jasper. If you aren't, then it screws up everyone else. I'd be surprised if she wasn't demoted," she finished with a sniff. Mom hated inefficient people.

"Oh, John, I have a meeting on Saturday that I can't avoid, so you'll need to go to the airport."

I stared at her in angered disbelief. She was the one who agreed to bring the delinquent here and yet she wasn't even going to be present to greet the girl when she arrived? I would have to spend a good portion of the day _alone _with her_?_ What would we talk about? How many times she almost got arrested? That got me thinking. _Had _she been arrested? Did she have a criminal record? Mom wasn't too specific about how much trouble she had gotten into. No, it couldn't be. Even with mom's pull she couldn't have gotten the girl into the school if she had a criminal record. Mrs. Balian would never allow it - not in a million, billion, trillion years. _Right?_ I thought worriedly.

My dad's voice startled me out of my reverie. "Airport?" he asked, as he stared at my mom with a look of vague surprise.

Mom nodded and quickly told him about this Mary person. Dad just nodded, taking a forkful of rice. He didn't even bat an eyelash when she told him it had already been decided we'd have another teenager running around the house for the rest of the school year, especially one who was known to be a troublemaker. I was really hoping he'd put the kibosh on the whole idea, but I should have known better. He never argued with mom. He pushed his glasses up his nose before saying, "I can't, Catherine. I have to leave on a business trip; Marty dropped out because he had a family crisis."

Mom sighed, then looked over at me. "Jasper will just have to go get her. Her plane lands at one in Sac."

She didn't even ask, but that should have been expected as well. It wasn't like I ever had any plans, though I was tempted to make some up just to make the New York troublemaker wait forever in an airport until one of my parents was free. Instead, I ground my teeth and stared at my plate. "Fine."

"Is the guest room ready?" Dad asked, already turning back to his papers.

Mom assured him it always was, and dinner settled into the usual silence. I quietly seethed until I finished eating and asked to be excused. I ran to the kitchen, hurriedly cleaning off my plate and putting it in the dishwasher. Upstairs, I finished the FAFSA, then pulled up a blank document. Perhaps I could start working more on my speech for Senior Project. I hesitated, then remembered I'd have a scholarship to work on for AVID within the first month of school starting. Maybe I should begin looking for a good one. I glanced at the clock, then prioritized and assigned a time slot for each. Satisfied with the plan for the rest of the night, I set to work.

It wasn't like I'd have much time left once I was babysitting the loud New York jailbird.

**Hey B, looks like Jasper is thrilled Alice is coming. Do you think he'll throw her a party?**

_**Oh, yeah. A BIG party, D. Because that's what Jasper does of course. Throw big loud parties. With the intention of getting the NY Jailbird Delinquent arrested and sent away before she's even unpacked her bags. He's such a nice guy, isn't he?**_


	3. Chapter 3

Previously on "Brilliant and Dangerous": Alice found out her punishment was to go live in Lodi, California with her mom's college friend and her boring son, and Jasper found out he might have to hide the silver from the New York jailbird who would be living in his house. Worse yet, he has to pick her up from the airport.

_Hold on tight  
You know she's a little bit dangerous  
She's got what it takes to make ends meet  
The eyes of a lover that hit like heat__  
__You know she's a little bit dangerous_

**_Dangerous_**

**_Roxette_**

APOV

I finally got off the plane after landing in Podunkville, USA. Was this really California, or did somebody ship me off to Idaho? I looked at it from the air and was convinced I got on the wrong plane. There's no way this was California. California was beaches and palm trees and fake tans. This place was…is she wearing a _scrunchie_? Can you still buy those things or has she had hers since the nineties?

My mom had given me Jasper's number to let him know when I landed and he was meeting me at baggage claim. I hoped Mr. Pocket Protector had some muscles on him, but I didn't have much hope. Most geeks were ninety-eight pound weaklings. I wondered if he had masking tape holding his glasses together…

I texted him in text-speak and he…wrote his out entirely, of course.

When I got near, I scanned the crowd for the geekiest skinniest guy I could find. My eyes kept falling back on a total hunk with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. No way that hot piece of ass was Jasper. I was pretty sure Mr. Pocket Protector couldn't see me yet, since I stopped growing before most girls hit puberty.

I finally made my way over to baggage claim and stood there looking lost so I'd be easy to spot. The hot boy kept looking at me and I was hoping he was going to come over and ask for my number. YES! He was walking over. His clothes were…well, okay, they were clean. I could work on that. At least I'd be working with some excellent raw material. No way was this guy from this shit town. Maybe he was from L.A. Maybe he'd take me back with him! I was so glad I touched up my make-up before I landed! He finally got to me and I looked up at him expectantly. He was tall and lanky and I could tell he had a nice washboard going on. He squinted at me, looking confused.

"Alice?" he said my name like it was a dirty word. Ew. What was that sourpuss expression doing on that beautiful face? Wait. How did he know my name? Was this…no way…

"Jasper?" I asked, my eyes wide.

He nodded and let his mouth drop open, not saying anything. I thought he was smart! Why is he looking at me like he forgot how to speak?

"Hi," I said, to get the ball rolling, "thanks for meeting me here. Will you help me with my luggage?"

Just a nod. Okay, we're off to a great start!

The first pink suitcase came around the carousel. I pointed to it.

"That's mine," I said, nudging him. He looked at the thing like it would bite him as we watched it go by.

"Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, I heard you. I was just thinking of telling you to get it yourself," he grumbled.

I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at him in disbelief.

"Some gentleman you are!"

"Who said I was a gentleman?"

I smiled.

"Fine. I'll get my own suitcases. When we get back to your place, I'll let your mom know how much you don't care about being a gentleman."

The next time the suitcase came around, he took it. I'll admit watching his bicep bulge as he lugged it off the carousel was a nice bonus. He was a jerk, but a really hot jerk.

He was about to walk away with it (hey, at least it was on rollers!) when I stopped him.

"There's another one."

He stared at me and his eyes popped out of his head in that cartoon cayOOOOOga way.

"You're kidding me, right? You know you're not moving in for the rest of your life, don't you? Where do you think you'll be going in all these clothes?"

"A girl must be prepared for any occasion."

There's the sourpuss look again.

"You know, that look can cause premature wrinkles – Oh look! There's my other suitcase!" You really couldn't miss the fluorescent pink amidst the humdrum black and brown all around it. It was NOT Pepto Bismol. Luis Vuitton did not _do_ Bismol.

He hefted my second bag, probably realizing he should just get it over with as opposed to arguing every step of the way. Besides, I've won every argument I've ever gotten into. If I didn't think I could win, I didn't bother.

I decided to be nice and I rolled the other bag behind me as we strode silently through the airport and out to the parking garage. He stopped at a monstrosity. I can't call it a car. I really hoped to God he was resting, because NO WAY was I going to put my ass in there unless he hit me over the head and threw me in the trunk so that even if I came to, I couldn't get out, because I would gladly take my chances at being run over by a semi than be seen in this…this…_thing._

Let me try to describe it.

If there was ever a car that screamed "OLD MAN" this was it. Red 1970's era station wagon. Red on top, _ wood paneling_ on the bottom. Yes, that's right. Wood paneling. Of course, what station wagon would be complete without the luggage rack affixed to the top? I didn't think these suckers ran anymore. It was like the car in that movie "Vacation" only in red instead of avocado green. I stared at it.

"Please tell me this isn't your car," I said, still not taking my eyes off of it.

"Sorry, sweetheart. This baby is all mine. She's sweet, isn't she?"

Okay, he's hot, geeky, jerky and positively INSANE.

"Nah ah. I'll rent a car. I'm not gonna be seen in this." I began to back away from it.

"Listen, girly, get over yourself. Nobody knows who you are here, anyway." He looked positively exasperated.

"When was the last time you…uhhh…washed it?"

"I detail her every month. She's clean as a whistle." He sounded indignant, as if how DARE I suggest he kept it anything but spotless?

Why anyone would take any amount of time to polish this heap was beyond me. Still, even if its previous owner died in it, which probably happened and then they used it as a hearse to transport the body, at least he had cleaned it thoroughly. He seemed like the sort of guy who would be meticulous. He probably takes out all his sexual frustrations on his car, because I can tell this guy most definitely was _not_ getting laid. Sure he was hot enough, but he'd actually have to _let go_ for five minutes and he probably made appointments for self-loving, never mind sex, used latex gloves, and managed to stay clean even after the event was over, if you know what I mean. He probably didn't even sweat.

He finally managed to get my suitcases loaded up and we were on our way. I had to admit, I was right about the meticulousness. The car was as new-looking as it could be, even though some Led Zeppelin groupie probably threw up in it at one time.

I looked out my window and watched the scenery go by. I know my mom said this wasn't punishment, but as I looked at the fourth church and seventh car lot, I knew I was in big trouble.

"Are there any malls around here?" I asked hopefully.

"Sure!" He pointed at a mini mall as we went by.

"Okay, we need to get our terminology straight. _That_ was a 'mini mall' and I am not in need of any frozen yogurt or a dollar dry cleaner. I mean a mall like a big huge enclosed building filled with stores like Nordstrom, Sachs, Neiman's…"

Judging by the blank expression he was giving me, I was guessing some serious driving was required to get me to a major city with people who didn't think torn Levi's and tank tops with your bra straps hanging out were the height of fashion.

"Where do you shop for clothes, then?"

"Well, we have a Target and a Wal-Mart nearby."

I nearly choked.

"Please tell me you're kidding."

He grinned at me for the first time since we'd met, but it wasn't a happy nice grin. It was a shit-eating grin. He was definitely enjoying my discomfort.

"Oh, there's also a 'Big Lots'. I understand you can get a lot of brand-name crap for less there," he said gleefully.

I seethed.

"Do I have to get my shoes at Target and Wal-Mart too?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Nah, we have plenty of those 'Payless' shoe stores around here," he snickered.

I began hyperventilating. This wasn't happening. I felt like everything was closing in on me. I was clutching my chest and praying for something – anything - to save me from the hell my life had become.

WHY had I thrown that party? No matter what mom said, this was most definitely punishment. I knew what she was doing. She wanted me to be like _him_ so that a month from now I'd be cleaning my canary yellow 1982 Plymouth Reliant and whistling a happy tune, while spending my evenings buried under a pile of books.

No way.

"How about clubs? Any places to go dancing around here?"I asked in my last-ditch effort to find fun in this God-forsaken town.

He laughed. "You can't get into a bar anyway."

"Ever heard of a fake ID, Brain Boy?" I said defiantly.

He looked at me as if I was a…delinquent.

"Are you like an eighty-year-old man trapped in the body of an eighteen-year-old?" I asked.

"Well at least I don't act like a thirteen-year-old."

"Oh yeah, it's so much better to act like an old fart with a giant stick up his ass. Let me guess. The last time you went to a party there was cake and ice cream involved!"

"Let me guess. The last time you had a discussion that didn't involve where the latest 'rage' was or where to get your designer crap that I just broke my back getting into the car, was – oh – NEVER!" He was fuming. It was almost cute with his little cheeks getting all red like that.

"You know the college I go to? It's for smart people. Really smart people. The classes are hard and the teachers won't fall for you batting your eyes at them when you don't get your homework done by the due date and you need to ask for more time," he said haughtily.

That did it. Just because a girl likes to look pretty and go out and have a good time every once in a while, did not mean she didn't have a brain.

"You know what? I had the highest GPA in my school. That's with almost no studying. I kick academic ass, you uptight prick, so the next time you feel the need to insult my intelligence, you might wanna think twice about it! Some of us can be smart and do well in school without making it our entire _lives."_

"From what I understand, Princess, you were sent here because you don't know what the hell you want to do with your life. Good grades in an average school are one thing, but you're entering a whole new world here. You're not with a bunch of kids who don't take school seriously. You're taking college-level classes with people who are competitive and want to get into the best colleges, so unless you have plans to go to DeVry, you'd better learn to study!" he spit back.

The ride got awfully silent after that.

Great. I'd be going to school with Jasper clones. None of them would know a good time if it hit them in the face. I'd spend my days at school and my nights forced into studying. They'd probably put a lock on my door or shackle me to a desk until I studied so much my eyes crossed.

Oh, I was doomed alright. Alice Cullen, welcome to hell.

JPOV

I was waiting at the baggage claim, still grumbling to myself about my mom making me pick up the New York Jailbird. I didn't see why the chick just couldn't stand around and wait, or catch a cab, or a train, or _something_ so that I didn't have to deal with the almost hour long car ride back to Lodi.

She had already annoyed me, and she'd only just landed. She'd texted me to let me know she'd arrived, and it was in that lazy sloppy way I'd seen normal high schoolers text. I wanted to fix all of it, but there wasn't a way to do that, so I simply texted her back, resisting the urge to add that she shouldn't write as if she was in kindergarten. But manners mattered and all that BS, so I just waited for her to show up.

People were coming and going in the baggage claim, and I scanned the crowds for a sulky, tattooed, pierced, punk-looking girl to saunter through the crowd with a major-ass chip on her shoulder.

I didn't see any.

Scanning the crowd again, more slowly this time, I still didn't notice anyone who looked like they were being sent here because of behavioral issues - and to punish me. Maybe she'd gotten on the wrong plane. I grinned deviously, my thoughts gleefully thinking of her getting off in LA or San Fran or maybe even somewhere in Cambodia. Still scanning the crowd, I caught sight of the shortest girl I'd seen looking around with slightly narrowed eyes. As I watched, she moved over to baggage claim and looked around, personifying the word lost.

No. Way.

I eyed her, not able to comprehend it. This couldn't be the delinquent I was to be housed with. She looked more like a pampered princess! It's not possible. It's not.

I started making my way over, still refusing to accept what I had a sickening hunch was reality. She watched me approach with a slightly excited look on her face.

_See_, I told myself, _ this can't be Alice. Why would anyone look excited about being exiled to Lodi?_

I looked down at her, my expectation of what she'd be like conflicting entirely with what she obviously did look like.

"Alice?" I asked, praying she'd give me a weird look and spit at me to get away from her.

Her eyes shot wide. "Jasper?"

I nodded, finally feeling the shock that caused my intelligence to go into cardiac arrest. Her voice didn't belong to a delinquent. It was far too sweet and girly. Hell, she didn't look like she'd ever even been sent to detention, let alone _jail_. She wasn't dressed in black or baggy clothes. No visible piercings or tattoos. . Her outfit was like something I'd seen in the magazines that some of the more preppy girls at MCHS looked through. Overall, she looked really, really… nice.

She looked at me oddly for a moment before speaking. "Hi, thanks for meeting me here." As if I'd had a choice. "Will you help me with my luggage?"

I nodded because what else was I supposed to do? We waited and then she pointed at a bright pink bag and nudged me. "That's mine," her high sweet voice informed me.

I stared at it, absolutely refusing to _touch _something that brightly pink. Next to no one at my school even _wore_ pink. It was bad enough we were seen as a bunch of sissies, we didn't need a big neon sign announcing it!Plus, the damn thing was bigger than she was. It was ENORMOUS. And what was she staring at me like that for? Were her arms broken? Cause no way was I carrying that thing for her.

"Did you hear me?" She was obviously annoyed. I didn't even bother looking at her. I just glared as the luggage circled.

"Yeah, I hear you," I grumbled. "I was just thinking of telling you to get it yourself."

She crossed her arms over her chest and I made sure I didn't look at "them" or anything around "them". I kept my eyes firmly up at the same level as her ears.

She tried to guilt me into carrying her luggage by calling me out on my less than gentlemanly habits. I shot down her assumption that I was a gentleman, though I'm sure if you asked any of the girls at school, they'd tell you I was. However, in this instance, I'd make an exception. She looked like she needed to do some actual work. Were those press-on nails?

Then the snooty brat had to go and pull that tattle-to-your-mom card on me. The next time her stupid pink bag came around, I grabbed it. It looked like something a little kid would have to match their Barbie doll. I turned to walk away, not wanting to have to carry the stupid bag any longer than necessary when that sweet-sounding voice that caused my teeth to clench called out to me again.

"There's another one."

_WHAT THE HELL?!_ I stared at her, waiting for her to start laughing her ass off and tell me she got me or some stupid shit like that. She stared back without any hint of jest. Dammit.

"You're kidding me, right? You know you're not moving in for the rest of your life, don't you? Where do you think you'll be going in all these clothes?" I finished in disbelief. Hell, I bet half of it would get her kicked out of school by Ms. Balian. Or unwanted attention from the freaky Locke Loungers, or from the dumbass college students who lived in the Quad.

She spouted some ridiculous comment about being prepared for anything. Like what? It wasn't like anything happened in Lodi, or even Stockton. Unless she planned on running away to Vegas, I didn't see why she needed all this junk. I was ready to rip my hair out, and wondering what I had done to make the devil send a pint-sized, deceivingly cute demon after me, when she added, "You know, that look can cause premature wrinkles - Oh look! There's my other suitcase!"

I looked over and what do you know - it matched the monstrosity I was already required to tote to my car. Reluctantly, drilled manners making it impossible _not _ to, I hefted the gargantuan bag off the carousel and began walking, not even waiting to see if she was following me. I glared at nothing in particular, though I wanted to laser my gaze onto the demon following me. At least the stupid bags were on rollers and she didn't make me lug TWO pink suitcases through the airport. I led her silently to the parking garage, fuming and plotting a painful death to the baggage.

I stopped next to my car, and catching sight of her expression felt equal parts annoyed furious and gleeful. She obviously did _not_ think well of my station wagon. I was hoping she'd resist, because then I could do one of two things - ditch her here with or without her luggage, or use force to get her inside the vehicle. Since I didn't want to damage the poor car, I was leaning towards dumping her. Without luggage. Homeless people could surely make use of all her excess clothing.

"Please tell me this isn't your car," she said a little hoarsely, seemingly unable to get her eyes off of it. She was so obviously horrified, I felt a vicious surge of satisfaction.

"Sorry sweetheart. This baby is all mine. She's sweet, isn't she?" I added, because I just couldn't help needling her at least a little.

She babbled something ludicrous about renting a damn car - and just _how_ did she plan on finding her way to Lodi from Sac? - and backed away. Was she going to try to make a run for it or something? Because I'd give her luggage to a hobo if she did.

Of course, Mom and Dad would disown me, and Alice's parents would probably send _me_ to jail if I left her here, so I decided to be a good guy.

"Listen, girly, get over yourself," I snapped, just wanting to get the torture the car ride was sure to be over with. "Nobody knows who you are here anyway." Why did it matter if she was seen in my station wagon or not?

"When was the last time you… uhhh… washed it?"

That kind of pissed me off. Did I look like a slob or something? It was obvious by glancing inside that I didn't leave trash lying around, or even leave books and schoolwork and stuff strewn about like half the people in my class did. I assured her the car was clean, and she still didn't look all that eager about getting in, though I can say she looked like she believed me about the clean part. I watched her face go through contortions and realized I didn't want to know what she was thinking, because I knew I would _ not_ like it. She smirked. I wanted to run her over with my obviously not good enough car.

She was quiet the whole time to Lodi, just watching everything out of her window. I didn't wish to talk with her, anyway, so I didn't try to be a "gentleman" and make awkward small talk. I didn't turn any music on either; by the looks of her, she probably liked Britney Spears and if she put that on, I would have to throw her out of the car.

As we reached the outskirts of Lodi, coming in by way of Galt since I'd chosen all the country roads to avoid traffic, Alice finally spoke, startling me slightly.

Are there any malls around here?"

"Sure!" I said, smirking and pointed at Lakewood "mall" as we passed by. It basically consisted of a Rick's Pizza, Baskin Robins, and small little stores that no one went into.

She scathingly told me that was a 'mini mall' - okay, like, whatever - and went on to describe a bunch of stores I'd never heard of. Hell, Stockton's mall didn't even have those. She glanced at me and sighed in exasperation.

"Where do you shop for clothes, then?"

I shrugged, turning onto Lodi Ave. I was almost home, almost sorta-free…. "Well, we have a Target and a Wal-Mart nearby."

She seriously made a hoarse sound, and I spared a fast worried glance to make sure she wasn't actually choking. Seeing that she wasn't, I let myself smirk back out the windshield.

"Please tell me you're kidding."

Oh, this was going to be so fun. "Oh, there's also a 'Big Lots'. I understand you can get a lot of brand-name crap for less there." Not that our Big Lots was all that great, mind you. It had more food and home cleaning products than anything else these days.

She was obviously pissed, which just made my fun that much more - FUN.

"Do I have to get my shoes at Target and Wal-Mart too?" she practically growled at me.

I wanted to laugh, guessing accurately what her reaction to my next statement was going to be. "Nah, we have plenty of those 'Payless' shoes stores around here." One was right between Wal-Mart and Target even!

She seemed to have a minor panic attack over that fact, clutching her chest and gasping. I watched her from the corner of my eye to make sure she didn't need to go to the ER or something. We'd just passed it, and I didn't want to detour back around. Besides, that would be just _p__er__fect_ to explain to my mom. _Not._

"How about any clubs? Any places to go dancing around here?" she asked desperately.

I laughed, amused. As if - Lodi barely had any crappy bars, let alone a place to go dancing. And I doubted she'd consider the "teen center" acceptable. Hell, only middle-schoolers ever went there. Or dorks.

"You can't get into a bar anyway," I reminded her.

"Ever heard of a fake ID, Brain Boy?" Feisty and upset… obviously she was not a happy camper. Besides, what was this about a fake ID? That was stupid and illegal. She probably already had one stashed away, not that anyone would buy her being old enough. She hardly looked like a freshman, why would someone be stupid enough to believe she was old enough to get into a bar?

"Are you like an eighty-year-old man trapped in the body of an eighteen-year-old?"

I bristled at that, anger and embarrassment slamming into me sharply. She'd unknowingly hit the nail directly on the head with that one. All MCHS students knew they didn't act anything like normal high school students. We were responsible and mature, and we had fun with things that most kids our age would scoff at. We were childish, yes, but we knew when to wise-up and act like an adult. Among my fellow students, acknowledging that we had the worst, most embarrassing lack of social lives was an amusing joke. Coming from anyone else - such as… oh, say a New York part girl - it was uncomfortable at best.

"Well at least I don't act like a thirteen-year-old." I defended. _I'd r__ather be old than childish_, I reminded myself - childishly.

She continued mocking me. My hands clenched on the steering wheel and I wanted to kick her out of my car. _This_ was why I didn't associate with other kids my age outside of the ones I went to school with. They were cruel and petty and cared more about stupid things like fashion and drama than their future. I was the one who was going to be prepared, but they were the ones considered 'cool' and 'popular'. And that somehow allowed them to look down on me like I was some filthy beggar or peasant in their mentally retarded social hierarchy.

I spat something back at her, but I couldn't exactly say what since I was busy trying to keep my temper in check. I realized I was failing, though, when I stopped at a light and added snootily, "You know the college I go to? It's for smart people. Really smart people. The classes are hard and the teachers won't fall for you batting your eyes at them when you don't get your homework done by the due date and you need to ask for more time." I hardly ever bragged about my school, because I hated making it sound like I looked down on other people. That made me just like them. Smart people didn't always do well at MCHS, and some people didn't do well there anyway, but still toughed it out. But I was pissed, and I knew that the details of how I was attacking high school made me sound smarter than I probably was. It also made me feel much better about my lack of social life.

I could tell I'd pushed her past angry and into furious when she snapped her response, "You know what? I had the highest GPA in my school. That's with almost no studying. I kick academic ass, you uptight prick, so the next time you feel the need to insult my intelligence, you might wanna think twice about it! Some of us can be smart and do well in school without making it our entire _lives_."

Just wait until she realized how much more we did in our school as compared to regular high schools. Then she'd see we had no choice about how much of our lives it took up. And who the freak cared, anyway, about whether or not it cut back on our social schedules when we were going to be finished with university a whole year or two before everyone else? Then who'd be laughing about school taking up their lives? She couldn't just act like she knew what the hell I had to put up with the past four years and make judgments on me when she knew _nothing_ about my life.

"From what I understand, Princess, you were sent here because you don't know what the hell you want to do with your life. Good grades in an average school are one thing, but you're entering a whole new world here. You're not with a whole bunch of kids who don't take school seriously. You're taking college-level classes with people who are competitive and want to get into the best colleges, so unless you have plans to go to DeVry, you'd better learn to study!"

Neither of us said anything after that. As my anger slowly cooled, I knew I'd probably gone too far all the way back to the beginning of the fight, but I was definitely a proud person. There was no way I'd verbally apologize to her. She might be my own personal demon come to try to ruin my chances of getting into Davis or Stanford, but that didn't excuse the rude, asshole-comments I'd thrown at her in my anger. Again, still not going to apologize. She hadn't exactly been Miss Sweetness, either.

We pulled up in front of the house, and the still angry, asshole part of me who was proving to be stronger than the guilty gentleman braced himself for more degrading looks and comments.

I glanced over at her and her sour, resigned expression.

Jasper Whitlock vs. Alice Cullen round two. Ding.

**A/N: Yo B, looks like it's love at first sight, eh? Should they start engraving the invitations? Making the guest list?**

**_hums 'Here Comes the Bride'_  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**When we last left our lovebirds, they had endured a lovely drive in Jasper's Vacation Wagon, sniping at each other all the way from the airport to Jasper's house. Let's see what happens next…**

**_Oh yes... let's. _  
**

_You were my hip-hopper  
You were my heart-stopper  
Yeah you're the only one that makes me feel  
You make me feel like a dangerous girl  
Like a dangerous girl_

_Dangerous Girl - Vitamin C  
_

APOV

I stared at the non-descript two-story house in front of me and sighed. Jasper got out without a word and started lugging out my suitcases, making grunty noises. They were kinda sexy…not that I'd ever let him know.

I got out of the car and waited by the door with my arms crossed over my chest while he wheeled the suitcases up, studiously not looking at me. He got the door open and, to my surprise, gestured for me to walk in first. I looked around. Someone needed a decorator STAT. Everything was so…beige. The house didn't look "homey". I know Esme was a decorator, but our house wasn't just a showplace. She put warm little touches all over that made you understand a loving family lived there. Like, she had tons of pictures of us all over from our family vacations to my school pictures. Everything about our house said "warm" and "inviting". This house said one thing: neglected.

Plus, I think they got the living room television in a deal with Jasper's car. It was one of those old console models. It looked like…oh hell…no cable. Mom told me his dad was some big hot-shot lawyer. Surely they could afford a big-screen and some basic cable!

I heard more grunting and turned to see Jasper sweating bullets, lugging one of my suitcases up the stairs. I almost felt bad. Almost. Well, Jasper, one down and one to go, buddy! Work them biceps!

I followed him up the stairs and when he got to the top, he stopped at one of the closed doors, opened it and went into the room. I followed. He set down my suitcase and went to get the other. As I listened to him grunt and swear under his breath, I tried not to hyperventilate. If I didn't know better I would have thought I went back to the 1800's. I fully expected a loom to appear in the corner. The room was…sparse. A twin bed. A dresser with a mirror. Two bedside tables with drawers. All of it probably purchased at Ikea. If I had no vision of hell before, I did now. The small window was covered in fugly curtains. The bed had a hideous blue blanket that looked pilled. The sheets looked new, but very cheap. I really should have thought to bring my own. Then I looked at the closet. No, I was wrong. NOW I knew what hell was. Tiny doesn't begin to describe it.

I sat down on the bed, defeated. Jasper finally made it to the room with the suitcase. He was sweating profusely and redder than a fire engine. His shirt stuck to him and now there were two sides warring. The one that wanted to hate him for the way he spoke to me and the side that wanted to jump his bones…not that I'd ever let him know…

"Where am I going to put all my stuff?" I said.

"Not my problem, Princess," he huffed.

Then he walked out.

I looked around. I couldn't believe I'd be living in this room. I looked down at my suitcases and back at the closet. I would unpack the few nice dresses and hang them, but otherwise I'd be putting my steamer to good use.

I had one bright thought. If nothing else, I could at least keep up with my friends via my computer. Then I started to panic.

"JASPER!"

"What?!" came his voice from somewhere close.

"You guys have the internet here, right?" I waited with bated breath for the answer.

"Of course we do!"

_Thank the Lord._

Suddenly he was at my door.

"Of course, mom monitors it, so we can only use it for research and stuff."

I looked at him in shock.

"She monitors YOUR computer. She has no right to monitor mine!"

"We'll see," he smirked.

_Oh, it just gets better and better._

***

I finally found some peace in this place. I was on Facebook writing on someone's wall with my iPod buds in my ears, because god forbid there should be an electronic device in this place that was made in the last hundred years, when I looked up to see a woman I could only assume was Jasper's mom, standing there. I must have jumped a mile. My heart beat out of my chest as I pulled the buds from my ears. I put my hand over my heart.

"Mrs. Whitlock!"

"I'm sorry, dear, I knocked but you didn't hear me."

"I'm so sorry!" I jumped up from my bed and extended my hand. "I'm Alice! Thanks for letting me stay with you!"

Hey, this may be hell, but my mama taught me manners. She shook my hand and laughed.

"Well, Alice, it's very nice to meet you. I just got home and we're about to have dinner, so I thought I'd come meet you and let you know. Mr. Whitlock should be home at any moment."

"Sure. I'll just wash up and be right down."

She turned towards the door and then looked back.

"Oh, and Alice, I see that you're using your computer to go on one of those social networking sites."

I was shocked. Looking around this place, I didn't think she'd know the term "social networking site".

"I know those are popular with the kids these days and I'll allow it for now, since you just got here and you miss your friends and school hasn't started yet, but once the school year begins, I want you to know that I'll be monitoring your activities. That means the computer will be used for school work only. Anything else wastes time and turns your brain to mush."

_Please let this just be a nightmare. _

I went to wash up in the bathroom and…hold the phone…I looked around. A toothbrush in the holder…a masculine-looking robe hanging on the back of the door…I opened the medicine cabinet. Male toiletries. Oh no. Jasper and I were sharing a bathroom! I just hoped his car meticulousness carried over to the bathroom, because I knew how sometimes the guy's aim wasn't that great and they would "miss". For this reason alone I didn't understand when people carpeted their bathroom. That's just wrong. I'm sure there would be a night where I "fell in" because I was tired and forgot to check if the seat was down. Hey, I'm tiny. I could get stuck and found the next morning like that. Knowing Jasper, he's probably take a picture and show it around school.

I finally went downstairs and found Jasper setting the table. I went to help him. Like I said – manners. Jasper's dad was there looking at some papers and he had his briefcase on the table. That seemed kind of rude. My dad was a doctor, but when he ate with the family, he paid full attention. The dinner table was sacred. Jasper and his mom must be used to it, because they didn't bat an eyelash.

"Honey, this is Alice, Esme's daughter."

Mr. Whitlock finally looked up and acknowledged me.

"Hello, Alice. I understand you'll be staying with us a while."

"Yes, sir. For the school year."

"Good, good. I hope you're as serious about your studies as Jasper."

I looked at Jasper. He gave me a knowing look back.

"Yes sir." The less I said on this subject, the better.

Dinner was really good. An awesome chicken dish with some roasted potatoes and marinated green beans. It's weird, because Mrs. Whitlock said she had just gotten home. When did she have time to…

"Jasper, the chicken is wonderful," his mom said, confirming my suspicions. He grinned back at his mom. Wow! Okay, so Jasper had another redeeming quality besides "hot". I was impressed…not that I'd ever let him know.

Instead I mumbled, "Yeah, thanks Jasper" while looking down at my plate.

I looked up when Mrs. Whitlock began speaking to me. "So, Alice, how is Esme? It's been so long since I've seen her!"

We talked through the entire dinner. Mrs. Whitlock told me all about her sorority days with my mom. I told her some recent stories, particularly one where my mom managed to lock herself INSIDE a bathroom of a home she was decorating.

"The couple came home hours later, and she was so embarrassed! I told her, 'hey, if you were going to be locked in a room for hours, it's a good thing it was the bathroom!'"

Mrs. Whitlock laughed loudly. Jasper looked like he wanted to use his fork as a weapon. Mr. Whitlock had barely touched his food. He was still looking at the documents. It's like we weren't even there. I couldn't believe they were okay with this! My mom would have Carlisle's head!

"Well, you two will be on your own again tomorrow."

I saw Jasper do the 360 eyeroll.

"I have to go into the museum. There's an important client coming in for a tour and I have to arrange it."

"Maybe one day you can take me to the museum! I would love to see it!"

I really did want to go. If there was actual culture in this town, I was craving it.

"Of course, dear! One day you'll just come to work with me! We'll make a day of it!" she said, looking delighted. By the looks of it, her husband didn't take an interest in what she did and Jasper didn't seem like an art appreciator to me. She's probably been dying for someone to take an interest in what she does.

Another eyeroll.

Jasper and I got up and started clearing dishes. I didn't take his dad's plate, not sure if he was done or not. We walked into the kitchen.

"I saw you looking. Don't worry about my dad. He's usually really distracted and doesn't eat until late. He just re-heats it."

"Then why does he come to the table at dinner time?"

He shrugged. "Mom insists."

Well then why didn't she insist he pay attention to the family and actually eat? Still, it wasn't my place to ask, so I kept my mouth shut.

After we cleared everything, I went to go upstairs, desperate to take advantage of the short amount of non-monitored computer time, when I heard his mom yell after us.

"Remember, kids, lights out at eleven o'clock!"

_Are you shitting me???_

Jasper saw the look on my face.

"Enjoy it. During the school year it's ten o'clock. Oh, and nice job with the ass-kissing."

"I was not! I'm truly interested!"

"Suuuuuure you are," he said, striding past me and up the stairs. As I climbed the stairs behind him, I noticed his bedroom was just across from mine, and his parent's bedroom must be down the hall.

I went to my room and closed the door. I bet that woman does bed checks like they do in prison, so it would do no good to shut off my light and stay on the computer after the appointed time.

That's where I felt I was. Prison. I'd been promised it was only gonna get worse. That night, I cried myself to sleep. Tomorrow I was calling mom and begging her to let me come home. I'd promise her anything to get out of here.

***

"Mom, please" I begged, trying to keep it together, "it's so awful here!"

I was clutching the one lifeline I had left of what I've come to think of as "my former life": my cell phone. I was in the backyard and talking as quietly as I could.

_"Is Mrs. Whitlock treating you badly?"_

"No, she's really nice. Jasper is being kind of a jerk, but I can handle him. It's just…she's so strict and there's a curfew and 'lights out' and my closet is so small and pretty soon I'm not even going to be able to communicate with my friends at home and there's no mall and the sheets are cheap and scratchy, and there's no cable and the house is just so quiet and…and…"

Esme laughed.

"Stop laughing at me mom. I'm really suffering here."

_"I'm sorry, honey. I understand it's a bit of a shock, but you'll settle in, I promise. Once school starts, you'll be so busy that everything else won't matter."_

"That's what I'm afraid of," I said grumpily. "Please, mom, I'll promise you anything. ANYTHING. Lesson learned. No more parties. I now fully and COMPLETELY appreciate what I have. _Please," _I begged again.

_"Baby, I meant it when I said this wasn't a punishment. It's only for the school year, and I know you're tougher than this."_

I hung my head. She was pulling out the big guns.

"Yeah mom, okay," I said quietly.

_"I can only promise it will get easier. If Jasper continues to give you a hard time, you let Catherine know and I'm quite sure she'll take care of it. I know she raised her boy better than to be rude to a woman."_

"Sure Mom. Like I said, I can handle him." I knew how I sounded and I didn't care.

_"Okay baby, you take care of yourself. You can call me any time. I'm always here for you. I love you."_

That was it. I fought back the tears. I couldn't let go now.

"I know, mom. Thanks. I love you too."

We said our goodbyes and I hung up.

I walked with my head hung low, dragging my heels, back to the house. Jasper was in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. He looked at me and for the first time he didn't look like he was thinking of something mean to say. He looked almost sweet.

"Hey," he said, "There's different kinds of cereal in the pantry. Help yourself."

I made a bowl for myself and sat at the table, but wound up just staring into it, not eating.

Suddenly I heard Jasper say, "I was thinking…I know you hate it, but maybe I can take you to Target today to get some stuff for your room or something."

He was being…nice? I looked up to see if there was any hint of sarcasm. He was looking away and seemed only embarrassed. Okay. If he could extend the olive branch, I could reciprocate. I smiled.

"Thanks, Jasper. I would like that."

He whipped his head to look at me, probably trying to catch that same hint of sarcasm. I guess he realized the same thing I did, because he smiled back. Damn, that just made him look sexier…not that I'd ever let him know.

***

_Target_. I was actually in a Target. My God it's so damn _bright_ in here. They should make the lighting low and maybe people would think this stuff was better quality.

Oh my GOD! The purses! They put them at the front like they're proud of them! I just stood there, my eyes wide. Jasper pulled me out of my stupor.

"C'mon. Let's go over to the bedding."

I didn't hold much hope I'd find anything, but this was my only option and anything had to be better than what was going on in that room now.

We got there and at first, I was very much dismayed at the $19.99 sheet sets and "beds in a bag" that looked like a good amount of nylon and really cheap stitching was involved. Then we came to the "Shabby Chic" section. Okay, it wasn't Lauren or Ashley, but I could work with this. I found an entire set that was actually kind of decent and I could live with. It would certainly make the room cheerier. I even got myself some curtains. Plus, I found some stuff I could use to store some of my things.

"Wow Jasper! I thought this would be a wasted trip! Thanks!" and I gave him my first big genuine smile since I got here.

He gave me his sexy grin back, "See? Target isn't so bad. Maybe I can even get you into Wal-Mart! Or Payless!"

I laughed, "Don't press your luck."

He laughed back.

I was having a good time _with Jasper_ at _Target_…not that I'd ever let him know…

JPOV

I got out and went straight for the pink monstrosities that she called luggage. I couldn't help but wonder what the hell she had packed in there - concrete slabs to remind her of New York? Bricks? Weights so that when I lifted the damned things, my arms would pop out of their sockets?

She was waiting at the door, arms crossed again - eyes up, Jasper - and looking almost impatient, except that would require some sense of wanting to progress forward. I doubted she wanted to move forward, more like backwards. Back in time until neither of us ever had to see each other. Ha, if only.

Too bad someone didn't make a time machine for Senior Project.

I gestured for her to go in first, and watched as she looked around. I guess horrified wouldn't be the proper word… more like just plain unhappy. Borderline horrified. Yeah, that was it.

Not wanting to see any more of her reaction to my house, I went back to the pink hell-bags. Hopefully no one who knew me would drive by and see them while they were left unattended. However, I would welcome a pink-bag thief.

I nearly slipped while dragging the thing up the steps, barely managing to keep my footing. Damn manners and damn girls with their damn clothing obsessions….

At the top I went to the guest room, settling the luggage on the floor - sweet relief! - before tramping downstairs for the next piece. Which hadn't been stolen… just my luck. Since no one was around to glare at me for improper language, I made sure to use my time for free speech wisely and get it all out of my system. While dragging up the second heavier bag, I nearly knocked one of Mom's lamps off of a side table. I caught it in time, thank god; she would have chewed me out if she came home to a missing or broken lamp. Then I'd have had to buy her a new one or something, because I'm sure it would make no difference that I was being a good guy and giving myself a hernia by dragging up the ungrateful delinquent's bags.

She was sitting down on the bed when I walked in, looking like she'd just been assigned the life sentence in the worst possible prison. What was she so upset about? I mean, I'm the one lugging those stupid bags of hers up all those stairs without any _help_. I'd have to take a shower after this for just two pieces of luggage!

"Where am I going to put all my stuff?" she asked, all sad and hopeless sounding.

I wasn't feeling merciful. "Not my problem, Princess," I grumbled as I left to take a shower. It wouldn't do to cook dinner while sweaty.

I was in the bathroom the two of us were going to have to share - ha, I bet no one had mentioned that to her… I'd leave that to my mom since I had to pick up the Jailbird - when she yelled for me in a panic.

"What?!" I asked, my shirt halfway up my chest, worried but also suspicious. Nothing could be wrong…. This _was_ Lodi after all.

Maybe she saw a bug or something.

"You guys have the internet here, right?"

I glared in the direction of her room and pulled my shirt back down. "Of course we do!" I snapped. It wasn't like we lived in caves or something else as barbaric. I wanted to see her face when I added the rest though, so I walked back down the hall to her room.

"Of course," I said, startling her slightly. "Mom monitors it, so we can only use it for research and stuff."

She looked completely shocked. It was pretty funny. "She monitors YOUR computer. She has no right to monitor mine!"

I smirked at her, thinking '_Wanna bet?'_. All I said, though, was, "We'll see."

I went back down the hall, stripping off my shirt and pausing to toss it into my room's hamper, and then locked myself in the bathroom for a quick shower.

I glanced at the time on the clock in my room as I ran a towel over my head, frowning and thinking of the food we had in the house and what I could make for dinner by the time Mom and Dad got home..

I traipsed downstairs, pausing only momentarily to listen at Alice's door. It was curiosity, not spying - honest! I didn't hear anything, so I shrugged - maybe she was asleep. Didn't people sleep a lot when they had jetlag or something? I wouldn't know - I'd never been out of the Central Valley.

Perfect timing had to be a gift of mine - I was pulling the potatoes out of the oven right as Mom opened the front door. She walked into the kitchen, smiling and taking an appreciative sniff.

"Hey, honey. Where's Alice?"

I shrugged, moving to the counter to make sure all the finishing touches on dinner were taken care of. "Up in the guestroom. She hasn't made a peep since we got here; I figured maybe she zonked out."

"I'll just go introduce myself and let her know dinner's ready," Mom said, smiling happily. She didn't get out much, so having another female in the house - even a New York delinquent - was probably the same as telling a five year old that they could live at Disneyland.

While Mom was upstairs, Dad walked in, arguing on his cell phone. He went up to his and Mom's room, then came back down not a minute later with his briefcase still in hand. At least the phone was gone today.

Mom came back downstairs and Alice came down a couple of minutes later and even helped set the table. I'll admit I was surprised. Jailbird had some manners. She hesitated when she saw Dad, and gave him a strange look. Mom introduced Dad to Alice, and he finally looked up for the first time since walking in the house. Alice should be honored - half the time he never even looked up from his work or spoke a single word.

I almost snorted as Dad mentioned her being as serious a student as I was. Her gaze met mine and I stared back; Dad might be nearly oblivious and have totally forgotten why she was even here in the first place, but I remembered. Dad didn't have to listen to her whine the whole car ride about what an old man I was because I studied too much and the lack of name brands Lodi had to offer.

Of course, he probably wouldn't have even heard a word she said had he picked her up, so it was rather moot.

We sat down to eat, and it was basically the same as always - quiet. It stayed that way until Mom spoke up.

"Jasper, the chicken is wonderful."

I grinned at her, loving the praise as always. Bella liked to joke that I was like a puppy, eager to be given a pat on the head and a treat. Thanks to her little joke, all her friends called me "Pup". I took it all in stride, because they never meant it in a mean way. It was their way of extending friendship.

I was pretty sure, at least.

Alice's eyes widened slightly, and then she looked down at her plate. "Yeah, thanks Jasper," she mumbled.

I was about to respond - it had taken me a few moments to decide if I would be subtly sarcastic or polite, and polite had won out - when Mom turned to Alice.

"So, Alice, how is Esme? It's been so long since I've seen her!"

It's been so long since she's seen anyone who didn't go to her work.

And then the talking started. Mom went on and on and _on_ about her college sorority days and the shenanigans they got into, which I decided was something no teenage boy needed to hear about his mom. She and Alice just kept talking and _ talking_, and Dad kept up with his papers and whatever, and I was left just sitting there. Completely left out.

Well this was just _great_.

Mom laughed loudly, drawing me out of my sour thoughts, and the two girls suddenly looked like they were going to be the best of friends. Obviously Mom loved her. The fact that Dad actually had a conversation with her suggested that he did as well. My own parents had spoken with Alice more than they had with me all day. Great. Fabulous. I could see where their priorities were.

I eyed my fork. Which would be more effective… using it on Alice, or myself?

"Well, you two will be on your own again tomorrow." Mom announced. _Big_ surprise; I rolled my eyes. "I have to go into the museum," Mom continued. "There's an important client coming in for a tour and I have to arrange it."

"Maybe one day you can take me to the museum! I would love to see it!"

I just bet she would. Mom eagerly agreed, wanting to make a day of it or whatever. I was right - she was already in love with Alice. If offered the option to choose between her and me, I had no doubts about who she would choose.

It wasn't me.

Dinner finished soon after that, and Alice got up with me to clear the dishes. How nice. She wasn't going to butter me up with helping, though I wasn't going to fall for her as easily as my parents obviously had.

She hesitated at my Dad's plate but left it in the end. As we walked into the kitchen, I finally spoke up. "I saw you looking. Don't worry about my dad. He's usually really distracted and doesn't eat until late. He just reheats it."

"Then why does he come to the table at dinner time?" Alice asked, obviously not able to make sense of it. Hell if I was, either.

"Mom insists," I replied, shrugging. That was the truth of it, as far as I knew.

Her lips pressed together lightly, but she didn't say anything else. We finished clearing up, we both headed back upstairs. What, she didn't want to spend more time with her new best friend, my mom?

Speaking of, she yelled up after us. "Remember, kids, lights out at eleven o'clock!"

I glanced over, choking back a laugh at the look on Alice's face. "Enjoy it," I told her, "During the school year it's ten o'clock." Then, because I couldn't help myself, I added, "Oh, and nice job with the ass-kissing."

"I was not! I'm truly interested!" she defended. I didn't know her well enough to tell if she was lying or not.

Because I had gotten such a great start on it today, I felt like being a jerk, and decided to believe she was lying. "Suuuuuure you are," I basically sneered. I moved past her on the stairs, securely closing my door behind me.

I fell onto my bed, grabbing fistfuls of my hair and groaning. Today sucked. It had to be on the list of my top five worst days of my life, the pain in my back a constant reminder.. I reached over and grabbed the book my English teacher had "requested" we read over break. I was almost finished with it and I figured I could get lost in the words on the pages.

Later, as I was about to drift off to sleep, I heard soft noises coming from the room across the hall. After a moment's hesitation, I got out of bed and crept to her door, listening.

My chest constricted as I heard her crying, and guilt swamped me. The jerk from the entire day was gone, leaving only a guilty gentleman in his place. She was in a complete culture shock, and I hadn't made things any easier.

I wasn't sure I knew how I would apologize, but I would make it up to her.

***

When I got up the next morning, I had figured out one way I could maybe make things up to Alice. The guest bedroom was just that - a guest room. Not meant for more than a few days at a time. Since Alice would be living with us for… _ months_… I figured she might feel better if it didn't look so empty. Besides, hadn't she mentioned needing a place for all her clothes? We could get dressers or cubbies or something for her. The best place to get all of this would be Target. No way was I driving all the way to Stockton's mall, even if it was just twenty minutes away, to listen to her say that it wasn't a real mall. I wanted to make things up to her, not make myself pissed at her again.

I paused outside of her door; it was open a crack, and I knocked once after a brief hesitation. No answer. I peered inside, noting the empty room, and decided to see if she was downstairs.

She wasn't in the kitchen or living room, so I decided to get some breakfast while I waited for her to appear. She came in a few moments later, looking for all the world like she had been abandoned. My chest decided to tighten in sympathy, which was not a pleasant sensation.

"Hey," I greeted her, "There's different kinds of cereal in the pantry. Help yourself."

She moved around the kitchen, making her own bowl, and sat down, but she didn't make any moves to eat it, just stared dejectedly into it.

"I was thinking…" Oh, god, this was harder than I thought it would be, "I know you hate it, but maybe I could take you to Target today to get some stuff for your room or something." I looked away. Maybe if I didn't have to look at her, it would be easier.

Yeah, that didn't really make any difference.

"Thanks, Jasper. I'd like that."

I snapped my head over to her, wondering if maybe she was being sarcastic. I mean, I had offered to take her to _Target_, and judging by her reactions yesterday, that was almost the same as suggesting she dumpster dive for lunch. She seemed sincere, the smile lighting up her face, whichwas a nice contrast from its earlier dreary expression, so I smiled at her. Perhaps we could work this out… somewhat….

When we got to the store, she squinted for about the first five minutes, giving the ceiling a glare. I wanted to point out that if she thought it was so bright, staring straight at the lights wasn't going to help at all, but I had a feeling that would just put us back to square one, so I kept my mouth shut.

Abruptly, she stopped and stared wide-eyed ahead of her. I glanced in the same direction, seeing nothing of consequence. Maybe she just went into a minor case of shock, realizing she actually was in a _Target_. Whatever.

"C'mon. Let's go over to the bedding." I led her through the store to the several bedding aisles. After that, I let her lead the way, having no clue what girls liked, especially girls like Alice. She didn't look very impressed or encouraged for a while, but then we got to this one aisle and she seemed much more optimistic. I couldn't tell what the hell the difference was, but I didn't say anything. Again. She threw things into a cart, enough that I started to wonder if she was planning to redecorate the whole damn house. We went back to the check out and then out the doors.

"Wow Jasper! I thought this would be a wasted trip! Thanks!" She actually seemed happy, and it changed the whole countenance of her face. Hell, it seemed to change the whole damn atmosphere, but whatever.

I couldn't stop the grin I sent her back. "See? Target isn't so bad," I teased, "Maybe I can even get you into Wal-Mart! Or Payless!" I hadn't forgotten her reaction to _that_ particular store.

She laughed. "Don't press your luck."

I laughed with her, shaking my head slightly. I was going to blindfold her and take her in a Payless, one day, just to see how she'd react….

**Hey B! Looks like they're as snug as two bugs in a rug! Alice went to TARGET – and ENJOYED herself! They're smiling and being cordial even! Think it'll last?**

**_With us in charge? Uh, is that a trick question? I mean, they're sharing a BATHROOM. _  
**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Major apologies for this taking ages.... We're both very busy Grizzlies. Enjoy, though! It's amazingly long.**_

APOV

_What is that noise? What is that annoying noise?_

_BANG!BANG!BANG!_

"GET UP, ALICE! GO TAKE YOUR SHOWER AND DON'T USE ALL THE HOT WATER!"

_What the…_

I pried my eyes open and looked around. Did I dream that? It was still night time! What time is it? I twisted my body to look at the clock…

FIVE A.M.??? FIVE A.M.???

Now I KNEW I was dreaming! I've gone to sleep at five a.m. I have never in my life WOKEN UP at five a.m.

I pulled the blankets back up and tried to go back to sleep.

BANG!BANG!BANG!

"Don't you dare go back to sleep, Alice! You will NOT make me late on the first day of school! Get up or I'm sending my mom in there!"

Ugh. That's right. My new life. My own personal hell. This really reminded me of prison, where you're forced to wake up when they tell you and you have no freedom about where you go and what you do. You just follow the routine, otherwise you get punished. I already felt like I was in Solitary, so I wonder what other punishment they could inflict on me?

Oh yeah. Just making me continue with their schedule was punishment enough. They couldn't possibly come up with anything worse.

I finally dragged my ass out of bed, grabbed my toiletry bag, and made my way to the bathroom. Jasper yanked his door open just as I was walking by, and he got the strangest look on his face. Suddenly I understood why. I had neglected to put on a bathrobe and I was walking around in my usual night time attire: a cute matching tank/shorts sleep set. Hey, I don't think clearly at this time in the morning. Plus, I walked around however I wanted at home. I wasn't used to covering up. We both stood there for a moment until Jasper finally snapped out of it and went back in his room and slammed the door.

Whatever, with his attitude. I needed a shower and an entire pot of coffee if I was going to make it through the day.

The shower felt good. I got out and went about my morning grooming routine. I always did it in a specific order and it could not be rushed. I was drying my hair when

BANG!BANG!BANG!

"ALICE! What the hell? Did you fall asleep in there? I need to get ready too, ya know!"

I opened up the door to see Jasper looking more pissed off than I'd ever seen him, and that was saying something, because he pretty much walked around with this giant scowl on his face all the time. I tried to talk to him about premature wrinkles and how your face really DOES freeze that way. I mean, have you seen those eighty-year-old men who don't even have to move their facial muscles to glower? They just walk around looking like that all the time and they make little children run from them!

"I didn't fall asleep, Jasper. I'm getting ready, just like you told me to."

He rolled his eyes.

"You're not going to a party, Alice. It's just school."

"I will not go to school looking like a hobo, Jasper."

"Are you done?"

I sighed, "I'll just continue drying my hair in my room."

I unplugged my ionic hair dryer and trudged to my room. I heard the bathroom door slam. Damn, that boy sure likes to slam some doors!

I went downstairs in search of coffee. Wait. Where was the coffee maker? How had I never noticed there was no coffee maker? I CANNOT get through the day without some damn coffee! Sure I went to bed at ten p.m., but that doesn't mean I got to SLEEP at that time! There is no way I could function on four hours' sleep! This was a nightmare! It just kept getting worse! I WANT MY OLD LIFE BACK!

Maybe Jasper would let me stop for coffee. Yeah, right. I mean, sure, he took me to Target that time, and we actually had fun. He even _smiled_ and joked around and it made him look even more handsome! Jasper had a really sexy smile.

Wait. Stop. You cannot start liking this boy. First of all, you're living with him. Second of all, GIANT STICK UP HIS ASS! Plus, it's obvious I'm just an annoying fly buzzing around his head. I saw all the eye rolls. Even the ones he tried to hide.

I heard him clomp down the stairs.

Oh look, he's scowling. What a change.

"Jasper?"

"WHAT?" he snapped.

Geez, he's the one who's used to getting up at this time, not me! What is his problem?

"Why don't you guys have a coffee maker?"

"Well, my mom doesn't like coffee. She drinks tea and dad always gets his own on the way to work."

I decided to ask. The worst he could do was say no. "Any way you can stop for coffee? I really need it."

"We go to the lounge first thing. There's a Java Jitters attached to it. You can get some there."

A LOUNGE? What kind of high school is this?

He rolled his eyes. Grrrrrrr…

We can talk on the way to school. You've already thrown me way off my schedule.

"Well we certainly can't throw you off your schedule! Then you might get in a pissy mood! Oh wait! You're like that all the time anyway!"

"Let's just go. It's my first day back and I don't wanna fight first thing in the morning."

"Fine. "

He stomped out the door, leaving it open behind him. Well, at least he didn't slam it.

--

So, OK, Jasper explained that this wasn't a high school, but a junior college. They set aside rooms for us high school students to take classes, but it was almost like we were an inconvenience. The rooms switched around.

Before we walked into the lounge, he warned me about the "Locke Loungers" who he described as "'losers' in their twenties and thirties who play Pokemon and magic or something, and MAYBE they have a class." Apparently the other students give them a wide berth because they're "really scary". There's like a line or something that's drawn in the lounge, even though they're desperate for chairs.

Huh. I didn't understand how a group of nerdy Pokemon players were somehow "scary". Jasper was probably exaggerating or being a snob. He's very judgmental.

--

OK, he wasn't exaggerating. They all looked like they escaped from the loony bin. What's with the animal hats? They all look like forty-year-old men who never made it past the mental age of fifteen. The beer guts told me they weren't exactly into health food.

Even the women had a look in their eyes like they couldn't quite focus.

They all looked like they were here and yet…not.

They were, in a word, _terrifying_.

Who would think a bunch of Pokemon, Yu-gi-OH! Playing geeks could make me shake in my boots?

No. Alice, now you're sounding like Jasper. They were probably just misunderstood. Nobody had taken the time to get to know them. They were outcasts because people like Jasper looked at them and decided they were bad people. Looks can be deceiving. Why, I bet they were sweet people who only needed some understanding.

Yeah, OK, that they were way past the age of high school or college age and still hanging out here was a bit on the creepy side, but still.

Everyone deserves a chance. I would make it my goal to save the Locke Loungers.

Jasper looked at my horrified expression and smirked. Well, it was better than the eyeroll. I guess, but now he was just being all cocky.

He took me up to a pretty brown-haired girl. Wow, she was naturally beautiful. If I could get my hands on her, I'd totally be able to play up her features without taking away from the adorable "girl next door" thing she has going on. I bet the boys here are going crazy for her.

"Hey Bella, this is Alice, Alice, Bella."

She looked me up and down and I could swear I saw her mouth "delinquent?" with a questioning expression on her face, but I must have been wrong about that.

"Hi Bella! Gosh, you're so pretty."

I pumped her hand. She looked at me in shock. I have a pretty good grip for someone so tiny.

"Hi Alice!" She blushed, "thank you…ummm…yeah."

"Hey, Jasper says there's a place to get coffee around here!"

Bella looked happy to change the subject. I could tell I made her uncomfortable.

"Yeah! You'll love Janice! She always remembers everybody's order!"

"Janice from Java Jitters? That's funny!" I giggled.

Bella just smiled at me and led the way. While we walked over, she talked to Jasper.

"You're buying the coffee, mister. Making me come here early! You know how I love my sleep!"

Jasper looked at her sheepishly. Wow. He was totally different with her.

"Sorry Bella. Yeah, I'll buy your coffee." Who was this sweet adorable Jasper and why wasn't he like that with me?

"Wait. What time do classes start?"

"Well, my class is at eight o'clock and your starts at nine," Jasper said with another smirk. I was starting to miss his eyerolls.

Wait. I stopped in my tracks. Then they stopped and looked back at me.

"ARE YOU TELLING ME I WOKE UP AT FIVE A.M. TO GET HERE AT 7 A.M. FOR A CLASS THAT STARTS AT NINE A.M.??? I JUST WANT TO BE REALLY CLEAR ON THIS!"

I drew a bit of a crowd with my outburst, but I was furious!

Bella looked at Jasper and seemed almost as infuriated as I was.

"You didn't tell her?"

ARRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! THE SMIRK!!!!!

"Naw, I wanted it to be a surprise."

It's good we didn't have the coffee yet. I would have spilled it over his smirky damn head.

We got to Java Jitters and there was Janice, and she's just like I'd pictured her. Slightly plump and calling everyone "honey" and "sweetie" and looking like that smile was permanently affixed to her face.

"Bella sweetie!" she said, "hot chocolate with gingerbread, coming right up!" Then she looked at me. "Oh, who's this adorable thing you have with you?"

Bella introduced me.

"Well aren't you a cute little thing, sweetie! What would you like?"

"Café Latte with a double shot of espresso please!"

Janice looked shocked.

"Are you sure, sweetie?"

"Oh, I'm positive. This guy here," I pointed at Jasper, "got me up at five ayem, and if I don't get some caffeine in me fast, I'm going to pass out half-way through my day."

She laughed a good hearty laugh and it seemed she'd almost forgotten about Jasper until I pointed to him.

"And what would you like, handsome?" He blushed. Huh. Did Jasper never order from her? She seemed to memorize everyone else's order.

Bella laughed under her breath and that's when I realized. He does, but Janice never remembers.

"Chai Tea Latte for me, thanks," Jasper mumbled. Then he looked at me. "Do you really think you should be drinking caffeine? I mean, you're already hyper enough for three people and I hear it stunts your growth. If you get any shorter, you'll need a booster seat."

I just glared at him. It was too early for me to think of a come-back. I'd get him back later.

Bella stared at him. He looked back at her like "WHAT?" This connection they had that was so strong they didn't need words was a bit unnerving. Were they ever a couple? Wait. ARE they a couple?

"So, Bella, do you have a boyfriend?"

Nothing like the direct approach. I'm all about the direct approach.

Bella's smile grew wide and I got concerned.

"Yes. His name is Edward. He goes to college here." _Whew._

Jasper's head snapped up. This was obviously news to him too.

"He's in college?" he said, and if his eyes had opened any wider, his eyeballs would have fallen out.

"What? He's only a year older than I am. It's not a big deal," she shrugged.

Jasper mumbled, "Not a big deal…yeah, right," but I don't know if Bella heard.

"Alice, you can hang with me until our classes start.

--

Smirksper went off to class and I hung out with Bella. Thank God she was cool. It sounded like she and Edward could get their party on, so maybe all hope wasn't lost for me yet. I just had to figure out how to get rid of the ankle bracelet and pray that Uptightsper didn't tattle on me.

Bella got me to admin to register my locker and then asked to see my schedule. She directed me to my first class.

The campus was BEAUTIFUL. I even saw a koi pond. The paths were cobblestoned. Way WAY nicer than my school, but then it was a public high school, so…

OOH! My first class was drama! Fun! I wonder if we're gonna do plays and stuff! I could get into this! My time here might not be a total borefest!

--

You know, up until now, I'd always prided myself on my intuition. Apparently Northern California severely messed with it. Drama? Wasn't about plays at all. It was all books and the HISTORY of drama and I nearly fell asleep three times.

Of course, it was a "college-level" class. I looked around. Everyone was so damn SERIOUS. Like, taking a huge amount of notes and looking studious and like they CARED. So different from high school. I felt so out of place.

It was lunchtime already? After one class? It's only eleven o'clock! I don't think I'll ever get used to this crazy school. Plus, it's so much bigger than what I'm used to. I was hoping I could find my way back to where Bella said to meet her and Jasper.

I was walking through the quad when I distinctly felt eyes burning a hole into me. Well, more specifically, my ass. I turned and looked and there were some guys watching the women go by like mountain lions might watch a herd of cattle go by. It was disconcerting to say the least.

One blonde guy with a pony tail was particularly creeping me out. Then he made some rude gesture involving his fingers in a "v" and his tongue and I almost got sick on myself. I tried to walk away quickly.

"Hey, short stuff? Anybody ever told you that you've got a great little ass? Damn, you're so tiny I and I bet you're flexible too!"

I was deciding on my fight or flight response when suddenly this big hulking guy with black curly hair who looked like he could crush boulders with his bare hands, got in the face of pony tail guy. Pony tail guy wasn't wimpy, but he wasn't boulder guy, who had a lot more muscle and a good two or three inches in height on him.

"James, knock it the fuck off! What the hell is wrong with you, man? She's obviously one of the high school chicks. You wanna go to jail?"

James put his hands up and stepped back.

"Sorry, man. She's just one hot bitch."

Boulder guy got even more in his face.

"Walk away, James. Just. Walk. Away."

James must not have been as stupid as he looked, because he did, but not before leering at me one last time. Yech.

Boulder guy came walking up to me. Gone was the angry scowl that had made James cower. Now he was all smiles and dimples. Awww…boulder guy was just a big ol' teddy bear! Cute too!

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just not used to this. This is my first day at this school. I'm used to dealing with high school boys. That was kinda scary."

"Oh man. I'm so sorry. Hey, where ya headed?"

"Ummm…"

I looked at the map I was given.

"The Holt building?"

Boulder guy's smile grew wider.

"No problem! I've gotta meet my girlfriend over there anyway. I'm Emmett, by the way, what's your name?"

"Alice!"

"Well, Alice, you just let me know if James bothers you again and I promise I will beat his ass."

"Thanks Emmett! It's nice having my own personal bodyguard."

He laughed a big hearty laugh. He made me feel happy just standing next to him.

We got to Jasper and Bella, who were both looking at me with wide eyes.

"Hey guys!" I said. They continued to look at me. "This is Emmett. He just saved me from a disgusting boy who was harassing me!"

I thought I saw Jasper's eyes narrow, but it could have been my imagination.

"Are you okay?" Bella asked, concerned.

"Oh, I'm fine thanks to Emmett. I won't even tell you the rude gesture that slimeball made at me." I shuddered. "He said some other stuff which I also don't want to repeat. I felt dirty just being around him.'

Jasper was now staring at the ground. Weird.

"Anyway, Emmett, I'd like to introduce you to Jasper and Bella."

Emmett stuck out his hand. Jasper looked hesitant at first, but then complied, and Bella smiled brightly at him and his huge hand swallowed her tiny one.

"There you are!" I heard a girl say as she approached.

Well, the term "girl" might not be accurate. Bella and I were "girls". She didn't look like us, but more like she stepped out of a 1940's pinup calendar. Wow, was she stunning. I usually liked being tiny, but for once in my life I wanted to know what it was like to be this Amazonian blonde bombshell.

Emmett's face broke into a wide grin. He opened his arms wide and the stunner went running into his arms and he lifted her up and planted a kiss on her that made _my _ knees go weak. Wow.

When they broke apart, Emmett said, "Guys, this is my Rosie. Rosie, this is Alice, Jasper and Bella."

She nodded towards us, "The name is actually Rosalie. Only Emmett calls me Rosie and gets away with it." Then she looked at me. "Let me guess. James came on to you in the quad and 'muscles' here rescued you."

Was she psychic or something? Emmett laughed.

"You got it, honey. She's just his type, isn't she?"

"That, plus I've never seen her around before and I'm assuming she's 'new meat'."

I giggled. "Yep."

I looked over at Bella, who blanched.

"J-James was the one who harassed you?"

I looked at her, concerned. "Yeah, I guess so. Why?"

She looked down. "Had an incident over the summer with him. Edward nearly killed him. I would have thought he'd learned his lesson."

Jasper's face was red.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

I looked at him and my mouth hung open. I was rarely at a loss for words, but Jasper had always been "mister calm, cool and collected" and I didn't know what to make of it.

"Sorry Jasper. I didn't want to worry you. He's just a pig. He never laid a hand on me. I'm sure he's all talk.

"Geez, Bella. I wish you had told me about this. We need to report him to the administration."

"I did already, but since he hasn't really done anything…"

"What do you mean? He's done plenty!" Jasper looked like he was about to throw a tantrum. That's when Emmett stepped in.

"Look, dude, I know James and they're right. He's all talk. I've never seen him actually touch anybody. I have a feeling he knows what would happen if he did. Ignoring him is the best way to go."

Jasper just mumbled something under his breath.

"Dude, really, it's all good," Emmett said, once again breaking out his signature grin. I felt better just being around him.

He pulled Rosalie closer to him. "Well, Rosie and I are taking off. Hey, Tiny Tot, you take care of yourself." He ruffled my hair.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll stop calling me 'Tiny Tot,' I said, glaring. He just laughed.

"You got it, Ti-…you got it." He looked at Bella and Jasper. "Later, you guys."

Rosalie smiled at us. "Nice meeting you guys. Hey, Alice, if James gives you any more trouble, I owe him a kick to the balls, so you can call on me too."

"Thanks Rosalie! I'll keep that in mind."

Emmett laughed as they walked away.

JPOV

My day was not off to the best start.  
First, I slept through the first ten minutes of my alarm. I grunted and rolled over, scrubbing a hand over my face in an attempt to wake up. For a minute, I just sat on the edge of my bed, staring at the floor, mentally giving myself a pep talk to get up.  
Damn eight o'clock Calculus.  
Finally, I pushed myself into an upright position and opened my dresser drawer, grabbing a shirt. I was already running through my day, making a list of what I'd need and where to go….  
I swore under my breath and dropped the pants I'd grabbed onto the floor as I suddenly remembered. Alice. I bet Mom never mentioned the girl would need to set an alarm. It was just my luck that I would have to be the one to wake up the party girl. Just great.  
I went down the hall and lightly knocked on her door, waiting and listening. Nothing. I sighed and knocked more loudly.  
"Alice?" I called.  
Still nothing.  
I groaned in exasperation and I pounded on the door as loudly as I could, sure that would at least get her attention.

"GET UP, ALICE! GO TAKE YOUR SHOWER AND DON'T USE ALL THE HOT WATER!"

If she used all the hot water, then when Mom got up she'd somehow blame it on me. I rolled my eyes, and listened for a moment, hoping to hear some activity from Alice.

There were some shuffling movements – the walls weren't very thick in our house – and then a slight groan. My eyes narrowed.

"Don't you dare go back to sleep, Alice!" I threatened. "You will NOT make me late on the first day of school! Get up or I'm sending my mom in there!"

She would not like that… my mom was frightening in the morning.

I decided that I'd give her a few minutes, and if she still wasn't up, I'd get Mom. At least her attention would be focused on Alice after I woke her, and I could go hide in my room as I got ready.

I pulled on my clothes, grabbing my jacket off the foot post of my bed and tossing it over by my backpack. "Books, books," I muttered, glancing around. Dammit, where were they…?

I sighed, thinking maybe I'd left them downstairs, and pulled open my door, cursing the day I'd listened to the counselor and agreed to take Calculus. I so should have listened to Bella instead….

I froze, staring.

Alice was staring back, looking slightly out of it, a bag in one hand and her short hair slightly mussed. My eyes flicked down and I quickly snapped them back up, mentally chastising myself for checking her out.

Even if her small outfit practically begged me to.

We stared at each other for a long moment, before I somehow managed to send a complete signal from my brain to my hands and feet, and stepped back, closing the door more harshly than probably necessary.

I rubbed my hands over my face quickly, shaking my head.

Damn, damn, damn.

I waited until I heard the shower start before I chanced leaving my room again. Hesitantly, I opened the door and peered up and down the hall. It would be my luck that she'd be prancing down it again, this time naked, having forgotten something.

Whether or not that would be bad or good luck… I wasn't sure.

I spent a good fifteen minutes searching downstairs for my books before I remembered. I'd put them in my car the other day so I wouldn't do exactly what I was doing: spend precious morning time looking for them.

I groaned and went back upstairs, practically jumping up the steps, and back into my room. The shower wasn't running any more, but I could still hear her banging around in the bathroom. I grabbed my phone off of my desk and glanced at the time, muttering curses as I saw we had about fifteen minutes until we had to leave. Parking was a bitch for the first few weeks, and I wanted to be able to actually park my car somewhat close- by, thank you very much.

I ran a hand through my hair, grimacing as my fingers encountered a knot. I worked it loose, grabbed my bag and went downstairs and outside, throwing it into the trunk of the car.

I went back upstairs and I banged on the bathroom door.

"ALICE! What the hell? Did you fall asleep in there? I need to get ready too, ya know!"

After a moment, she pulled open the door, giving me an exasperated look. She made some comment about "getting ready like I asked her to"

I barely restrained a snort, because I hadn't told her to take forever to get ready. I was pretty sure I'd added the phrase "hurry up" somewhere in my morning rant….

Or maybe I'd just thought it so many times that it was stuck in my head. Whatever, she should have known better than to take her merry time. This was school, not Prom. I told her as much and she went on about not wanting to look like a "hobo" or something. This girl must have seen some pretty good-looking hobos in her lifetime.

I asked her if she was done and she blabbered something about finishing in her room, and left. I shut the door loudly and finished up my morning routine, managing to trip over a rug or towel or something at least three frickin' times.

We had to leave, now, and I hurried down the stairs, grumbling to myself under my breath. As I entered the kitchen, I did a quick once-over of my mental checklist.

"Jasper?"

"WHAT?" I snapped. A part of me noted that I was being rude, but most of me didn't care. It was early, the first day, and damn cold.

Then she asked what had to be the second most pointless question in the world, about our lack of a coffee maker, and I had to explain to her why we didn't have one. So then she wanted to stop for some coffee. Stop! As if we weren't already pushing it! Maybe I should just make her take the bus the whole time she's here. At least that way I could get out of the house on time.

I told her about Java Jitters. She gave me this look, like I had just said there was no gravity on the campus. I rolled my eyes… of course, most people who only knew traditional high school campuses gave us MCHS students that same look.

I hurried her along, getting a smartass comment back from her, and hurried out the front door, getting into the car and waiting impatiently as Alice slowly made her way outside as well. She got in, buckling up and immediately reached for my radio. I grit my teeth and instead of arguing with her about how it was my car and I controlled the noise in it, I pulled out of the driveway and hurried towards school.

We got there in pretty good time, but already the parking lots were rather full. Thankfully, for the first two weeks of school, they didn't charge for parking, so I just went straight to the L3 parking lot and searched for a space as close as I could get. During the search, I decided to warn Alice about the Locke Loungers.

They were hard to describe, practically beyond words. Every MCHS student, except a very spare few, would agree they were somewhat frightening, and all would use the word "indescribable". They were just… the Locke Loungers. To be avoided at all costs.

Hell, most of us wouldn't even dare crossing the invisible borderline to retrieve a chair from their side, and Locke Lounge was always short on chairs.

Alice gave me this unconvinced, dismissive look. I rolled my eyes slightly, knowing she'd change her tune when we entered the lounge.

Finally, I found a spot, at the far end of the lot, and led Alice onto campus. Locke Lounge wasn't too far from the parking lot I'd chosen, so we entered it in about two minutes.

Alice's eyes widened as we came far enough in to see the other side, and the Locke Loungers already populating it. Slowly, her eyes scanned over them, taking in the various people and their… eccentricities. When her gaze landed on me, I smirked at her, resisting the urge to mouth "I told you so".

Bella walked into the lounge, and I turned to introduce her to Alice. Alice seemed herself again, having recovered from the shock of the Locke Loungers, and grinned at Bella.

Bella stared at Alice, and then slid her eyes to me, mouthing "delinquent?" with obvious disbelief. I rolled my eyes at her subtly and gave a slight shrug of my shoulders.

"Hi Bella! Gosh, you're so pretty."

Bella stared in shock as Alice took control of her hand, then blushed and quietly returned the greeting.

I sighed to myself and wondered if I should have warned her last night when I begged her to get here early about Alice's… perkiness.

Alice brought up Java Jitters and Bella immediately latched onto the new subject.

"Yeah! You'll love Janice!" Bella grinned. "She remembers everybody's orders."

Well, almost, I thought sourly. They started talking and walking, Bella glancing over her shoulder at me as I followed.

Bella reminded me that I was buying the coffee due to making her come in so early.

I gave a short, half-grin sheepishly, and agreed. It was no problem; Bella and I had been friends since almost the very beginning of freshman year. Over the passing of time, we'd bought each other stuff so often, we didn't keep track or care. Besides, I had guilt-tripped and begged her to get here earlier than she wanted. The least I could do was buy her some stupid coffee.

"Wait. What time do classes start?" Alice looked between Bella and me with wide, confused eyes.

I explained that mine started at eight, while hers started at ten, and she froze in place. Then she exploded, obviously not happy about the early-morning wake-up call when her class wasn't until later, making the people in Java Jitters stare over at us with the barest interest. It wasn't like Locke Lounge was known for being quiet; this was pretty normal.

Bella looked at me in frustration. "You didn't tell her?"

Smirking, I shrugged. "Naw, I wanted it to be a surprise."

The look Alice gave me could have put the sun to shame with its blistering factor.

Janice had to be the sweetest woman I'd ever met, and the most pleasant. Never had I seen a frown on her face in the four years I'd been at this school. I never took it personally that she hardly ever remembered my order, though it was embarrassing at times. She was a busy woman, always bustling behind the counter to fill the orders, and couldn't be bothered to remember every single person's usual.

Besides, I changed mine up occasionally, while Bella always ordered the exact same thing.

I jerked to attention as Alice pointed back at me, and Janice laughed. "And what would you like, handsome?"

I ordered, and then looked over at Alice, teasing her about her height… or basic lack of it. Bella gave me a look that clearly said she thought I was being a borderline asshole. I sent her a look back, completely innocent. I was teasing. How else was I supposed to survive living with this girl for the rest of the school year if I couldn't tease her?

Then Alice asked if Bella had a boyfriend and Bella and I both snapped around to stare at Alice, who was smiling patiently and innocently.

I was about to laugh, when Bella grinned widely. I stared at her, suddenly wondering if-

"Yes. His name is Edward. He goes to college here."

I'd been reaching for our drinks as Janice handed them over when Bella spoke, but at that, my head snapped back again towards the two girls.

"He's in college?" I said in shock, completely taken by surprise.

Most of the college/high school student relationships we'd seen over the years had failed, and failed miserably. Bella and I used to laugh about how stupid our classmates were sometimes….

And now, here she was, with a college guy. Since when? Why had I never met him? Why hadn't she told me?

She shrugged like it was no big deal and said something about him only being a year older. I mumbled sarcastically, making Alice send a fast look at me. Bella heard me, I'm sure, but she chose to ignore me.

I left soon after to wait for Calculus. The teacher was already in the classroom, and I went straight in and sat down front and center. It was pretty crowded, but I knew she'd be taking care of that momentarily.

She flicked a glance at me, and then went back to her papers, her expression seemingly stuck in a severe look. The class quickly filled up, and right as the clock hit eight, she stood up and glared at all the students gathered in the large classroom.

"Welcome to Calculus. If you aren't signed on for the class or on the waiting list, leave. Now," she added sternly. A handful of people hesitated before walking out; she watched them leave over the rim of her glasses.

Her attention turned its razor focus back to us. "I want all the students who are waitlisted to please leave the seats open for students who are actually in my class."

As a few rose so a few could sit down, she grabbed a stack of papers.

"Okay, here's the deal. This is your syllabus. All your assignments are in here, as well as your test dates, and my office hours. I will not tell you any of this. It is your responsibility to keep track of everything. No late work, unless you have an excused absence. And let me classify an excused absence: You are sick with a doctor's note, dying, have a family emergency or jury duty." She glared at us over her glasses again.

"You are college students, not grade school-ers who need their hands held and noses wiped."

Then Professor Linden continued explaining the class expectations and the usual. Thankfully, she wasn't one of those professors who lectured on the first day of class, so she let us go.

I headed back to Locke Lounge, nodding hello to the few guys in my class who were in there. We spoke about our breaks for a while, laughing about the stupid shenanigans they'd gotten to.

"Hey, I heard there was a new chick," Jeremy said, raising his brows.

I nodded, reluctant to speak on the subject.

"Have you met her?" he asked.

I sighed. "Yeah," I said, but went no further than that.

I didn't feel like sharing that we were living under the same roof. It would come out soon enough, but I wanted to keep it quiet for as long as possible. Once a secret was spilled at MCHS, within a day the whole school would know of it. It was like living in a small town where the gossip spread like wildfire.

Or maybe all of us just had some weird psychic sense, because I swear half the time people just seemed to know things within minutes of it happening.

"What's she like?" George asked, looking up from his phone curiously.

"Uh…" I said, thinking. How to describe Alice? "She's from New York, short, cute," I admitted. "She didn't believe me about the Locke Loungers."

They laughed.

I grinned, continuing. "She seems okay, if a bit hyperactive."

Bella walked in then, searching for a moment before spotting me and coming over.

"Hey, Jasper, we have to go meet Alice."

"Is that the new girl?" George asked, and I nodded.

"You're the new girl," Jeremy said.

Bella snorted. "Jeremy, do you ever think before you speak? That hardly made sense!"

He gave her a mockingly serious glare. "You hardly make any sense!"

Pointedly rolling her eyes, Bella turned and started walking away. "Goodbye Jeremy."

I followed after Bella, who slid her eyes over to me and grinned slightly.

"Go ahead. I know you want to. Ask away."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Why didn't you tell me? And since when have you been dating this guy, anyway?"

She shrugged, looking at the ground. "I don't know."

We stopped just outside of Locke, where Alice would easily find us. Bella sighed and looked up at the sky.

"I guess I just thought you'd be angry, or wouldn't approve."

"Thanks. I feel so great now."

Bella laughed and bumped me with her hip. "Sorry," she teased. Then she turned more serious. "And it's been… a while. About a month after school started. I… I met him over the summer, during my college class."

I nodded and tried to be the supportive friend. "Have I met him?" I asked.

Bella shrugged. "I think you've seen him a few times. But… no, you haven't met him."

I gave her a look. "I'd better be meeting him soon."

She laughed and hugged me. "Okay, Jasper."

I smiled and hugged her back. I sighed playfully. "Oh, what am I going to do with you?"

Laughing again, Bella pulled away. We grinned at each other and then looked up.

Alice was approaching us with a huge college guy right beside her.

"Hey guys!" she greeted happily. "This is Emmett. He just saved me from a disgusting boy who was harassing me!"

I clenched my jaw and fought off disbelief and anger. Damn! I'd forgotten to warn her about those fucking pigs in the Quad! Yet, she sounded fine. Just as happy as ever, completely unbothered by it. How can she be so… unconcerned! Those assholes could be registered offenders for all any of us knew!

"Are you okay?" Bella asked, obviously worried.

Already she loved Alice. How the hell did this tiny girl manage to make everyone fall in love with her within minutes of meeting her? By the end of the day, the all of the 250 students would love her!

Again, Alice acted like it was nothing. "Oh, I'm fine thanks to Emmett. I won't even tell you the rude gesture that slimeball made at me." She made a face and shuddered slightly. "He said some other stuff which I also don't want to repeat. I felt dirty just being around him."

I was staring intently at my shoes, trying to gain control of myself. It wouldn't be smart to go looking for the asshole - not that I'd know which one it was, but I could probably figure it out somehow - and get in a fight and get expelled. Yeah, I should have remembered to warn Alice about the creeps on Delta and not just the weirdos of Locke Lounge, but there was nothing I could do about it now, and at least it happened during the day, on the first day. People were everywhere. No one in their right minds would try anything in a huge crowd of people. Alice had enough sense to make a scene if something did get out of hand, too, unlike a few of the girls here.

Alice introduced Emmett to us, and after a moment, I shook the guy's hand. Geez his hands were HUGE.

One of the college girls came up and attached herself to Emmett. They put on a show that gave a whole new meaning to the term "PDA" before breaking apart for more introductions.

Rosalie, Emmett's girlfriend apparently, looked at Alice and immediately called her on what happened. She, Emmett, and Alice started basically joking about what happened. What the hell? Did these people take nothing seriously?!

"J-James was the one who harassed you?" Bella asked, clearly upset. I watched her in concern until she admitted to having had an "incident" with him over the summer.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" I yelled, furious. What was with her not telling me anything these days? Especially important things, like this and her college boyfriend!

"Sorry Jasper. I didn't want to worry you. He's just a pig. He never laid a hand on me. I'm sure he's all talk."

I ran a hand through my hair, staring at her in disbelief.

"Geez, Bella. I wish you had told me about this. We need to report him to administration."

"I did already, but since he hasn't really done anything…."

"What do you mean?" I shouted angrily, ready to go to the Quad and start a fight with this prick and damn the consequences. Then I might go pick one with Admin since they were obviously busy picking their noses instead of taking care of things like this.

"He's done plenty!" I countered.

Then Emmett spoke up, spouting off some bull about this James figure being all talk and knowing what would happen if he ever did do anything.

"Yeah," I grumbled under my breath. "That's what everyone says, until something terrible happens."

Emmett went to assure me again and then he pulled Rosalie close, grinning at Alice and saying good bye. The girls waved as they walked away and I nodded, still pissed and sulking.

This day was the worst day ever. Seriously.

"Well!" Alice said cheerfully. "This sure has been an interesting morning!" She laughed and Bella joined in.

"Yeah, and just think," she teased. "This is just college. You still have high school to get through."

Alice made a face, which made my lips twitch up into an amused smirk. "Don't worry," I said dryly. "I'm sure you'll survive… partially intact."

Alice stuck her tongue out at me.

**Ummmm...so...looks like Alice is getting prepared to take over the school. She'll probably be class president by next week!**

_**Heehee... next chapter is the second half of the day!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**When we last left our two lovebirds, they were halfway through their first day at school. We met Bella, Emmett and Rose…and unfortunately, James…**

**_Well... let's finally get to the second half of her day, shall we? ~snickers~_  
**

APOV

When we got back to school, Jasper showed me a way to get to class that was faster, and also let me avoid the quad.

_And James._

Bella had insisted she could show me the way, but I think Big Brother Jasper wanted to feel like the big he-man and so Bella just rolled her eyes and let him.

Once we were "safe" at the classroom, Jasper waved at me shyly, gave Bella a hug goodbye, and was off.

"Why is everyone just milling around out here?"

"Oh, Mrs. D is always a few minutes late. It's a big campus and they know we're a well-behaved bunch and we'll just wait until they get here.

"You and Jasper have known each other a while."

"Yeah. It's funny. Most of the girls here have a huge crush on him and he refuses to believe me. I know guys are oblivious, but c'MON! They practically throw themselves at him and he's just all "aw shucks" and "here let me help you with that" and doesn't realize what he's doing."

"Really? He's usually sweet and helpful?" I stared at her.

"Yeah. Is he not that way with you?"

"No," I sighed, "except for that one time, not really."

Finally "Mrs. D" showed up. She seemed nice enough. Didn't say much, but just turned on her laptop and told us to get to work. I went up to her.

"Hi, I'm Alice Cullen and I'm new here. I don't really have anything to work on."

"Oh, Ms. Cullen. Welcome. Yes, I'll put you on Yearbook. Riley?"

A blonde baby-faced guy looked up.

"Would you please show Alice the page she'll be working on for the yearbook?"

"Sure Mrs. D."

I guess she didn't mind the informal way the students talked to her. I went over to the Riley guy and he pulled up a Photoshop page that consisted of your typical high school pictures and your typical high school sayings.

It made me really homesick. I was on Yearbook back home where it meant something. I knew everyone. My layouts were so awesome. Now here I was working on a yearbook and looking at pictures of people who were strangers to me. It just made everything that much more _real_.

When he was done, I went back to Bella.

"What do we do now?"

"Well, this is sort of like a free period. I look forward to it. All my other classes make my brain hurt."

Bella and I trudged off to English together. I really liked her. She was smart, but didn't seem like school was her entire life. She took it seriously, but not so seriously she forgot to be a teenager. In other words, totally not like Jasper.

"Hey, fair warning, Jasper's in our English class and I always sit by him."

After walking up enough stairs so that I wouldn't have to get on the Stairmaster for a month, I walked in and there was Mr. Pocket Protector, all eager and ready to work. He looked up when I walked in and didn't look at all happy to see me and made it seem like he didn't want me to acknowledge him. As if he was embarrassed by me. I took the hint and sat far away, even though I really wanted to sit by Bella.

There was a projector screen at the front with some kind of fancy PowerPoint thing. The instructor had this huge smile on his face as he welcomed all the students when they came in. Maybe he was on drugs.

The teacher turned off the lights which helped to see the screen better. He said something about how he hoped we enjoyed our vacations (Well, you know, it was _stellar_ until…JAIL!) and how he would tells us about his later (that's when I take out the iPod). His name was Mr. Kennedy (but I'm sure the kids all called him "Mr. K") and this was our first journal entry.

At least this was something normal. I was always good in English.

Okay, maybe not. What's with the cartoon? What does this have to do with English?

The cartoon showed the devil on his computer. On the screen was "Have some compassion. Free Trial offer." It even had a little pitchfork in the bottom corner of the screen.

The caption underneath read, "Spam in Hell."

He gave us some questions to answer, including a time we showed someone compassion or someone showed us compassion."

I did my best and then the teacher asked for volunteers to read one of our answers aloud. I don't know why, maybe it's because I'm so used to volunteering for everything, but my hand shot up.

"Yes? Did you need to use the restroom?" the teacher asked, looking at me like I was an alien.

Why was he asking me that? "No, I wanted to read one of my answers."

"Oh my apologies Ms. Cullen. Usually the new students hide in the back for a few weeks. I'm glad to see you're participating so readily. Please, go ahead."

"I'll answer the question about a time someone has shown compassion," I said.

_Let's see what he does with this._

I stood up and picked up my trusty snazzy new journal.

"I recently moved to town and I was feeling bad and missing my home. _Someone_ offered to take me shopping because he wanted me to feel more at home by having me decorate my room, even though I know he doesn't like shopping."

"Thank you Ms. Cullen. Anyone else?"

I saw Jasper turn sideways, but never turned to look at me fully.

The teacher gave us his travelogue. It might have been interesting. Maybe if I knew him. Or I wasn't freaking out. And homesick. And wondering what the hell Jasper's deal was.

When class was over, I got up and left. I didn't know what his problem was and why he didn't want to be seen with me, but I would respect his wishes. Suddenly I felt a presence beside me.

"Hello there, I'm Tyler. Tyler Crowley."

I looked up to see a guy who looked like a Ken doll. Not in a good way, but in a superficial totally plastic no-expression-but-a-plastered-on-smile way. His teeth were very…white…and straight. Caps for sure.

"Hi Tyler."

"That was cool. What you said about compassion. I'd love to see how you decorated your room some time."

Oh yecch. Gross.

"Yeah, well, it was nice meeting you Tyler."

I walked away quickly and saw Jasper standing nearby. His eyes were wide and his face was red with a look that was very un-Jasper-like. Weird. I just kept walking. There was no keeping up with his moods.

I pulled out my schedule. Next was AVID. What did Jasper tell me that was? Oh yeah. It sounded like a class he made up himself: Advancement Via Individual Determination.

I want my old life back.

I walked out in a daze. I don't know what the heck that was. Something about helping you prepare for college through organization and note taking and... stuff. I think I heard the words "Cornell Notes" and "binder checks" and "scholarships." Then a counselor came in and reminded us about graduation requirements and my eyes might have rolled to the back of my head.

I walked up to Jasper's car and saw him talking to some guys. He looked _relaxed_ and he was _smiling_. I stood back and just kept watching him. He was obviously engaging in easy conversation with some of his friends, totally enjoying himself. Some girl went by and dropped her books and he picked them up for her. She smiled at him like he'd just slayed a dragon for her, but he didn't seem to notice. Bella was right.

He seemed so comfortable around the guys. When he wasn't wound so tight you could, as they said in _Ferris Bueller's Day Off_ "stick a lump of coal up his ass, and in two weeks you'd have a diamond" he was really quite adorable. He had cute dimples and a mischievous grin.

_Not that I'd ever let him know…_

Had he ever even smiled at me?

I didn't know if he still didn't want people to see me with him, but he was waiting at his car and he knew he had to drive me home and _screw him_. I was not about to get all self-conscious and fade into the woodwork to appease him. I was not going to be embarrassed for my existence. It was clearly _his_ _problem_.

I finally walked up to him and his demeanor immediately changed. He got all stiff and the smile left his face.

"Hey Jasper," I said politely.

"Hello Alice," he replied as if the words hurt him to say.

While Jasper didn't seem to want me there, his friends seemed to like me just fine. They all introduced themselves and sent Jasper looks that seemed to show they approved of me. He didn't seem at all happy with that. Whatever. Like I said, _his_ _problem_.

Finally his friends dispersed and we got in the car.

It was a looooooooooooooooong drive home to be spent in silence, but we managed. It's the longest, besides sleeping or being in class, that I've ever been that quiet.

We got home and he immediately started on dinner. I wasn't used to getting home from school this late. I mean, it was already dinner time. Then "lights out" was at ten o'clock. There was no free time. When the hell did you do the mountain of homework they gave you? I wanted to ask Jasper, but he looked like he was ready to crack, so I made a mental note to talk to Bella about it tomorrow.

We all sat down to dinner. Mr. Whitlock was suspiciously absent. Again, I don't know how Jasper whipped it up in the time he had, but I was impressed.

_Not that I'd ever let him know…_

"So, tell me about your day!" Mrs. Whitlock said.

I told her everything that happened, except the part about James, figuring she'd completely overreact and storm the school, only making things worse, and the whole reading from my journal thing which Mr. I'm-Going-To-Pretend-You-Don't-Exist had not even mentioned.

"Oh, you're working on Yearbook. That's wonderful!"

"Yes, except that I don't know anybody except Jasper and Bella, so I'm really not much help."

"That Bella is such a nice girl. I told Jasper he should consider making her his girlfriend. She'd be perfect because Bella is just as dedicated to her studies and he wouldn't get side-tracked."

While something I can't identify happened in my stomach, I looked over at Jasper to see if he had any reaction. He just scowled at his food and kept shoveling it into his mouth. Man, if his dad was always gone and Jasper was her only source of conversation, I felt really sorry for Mrs. Whitlock.

"It's too late anyway. She already has one."

Mrs. Whitlock looked surprised.

"Really? It's a small school. Perhaps I know him…"

"Well, he actually goes to college there. His name is Edward Cullen."

I looked at Jasper who seemed to have his fork in a death-grip. Maybe I shouldn't have volunteered this information. Though with Jasper, you never knew.

Then I turned back to Mrs. Whitlock and realized, yeah, I should have kept my big trap shut. I guess I picked the wrong thing she'd overreact to. Maybe I could tell her about James and sidetrack her…no, too late. I could already see the wheels spinning. I'd already said too much.

"Really? Poor thing. Perhaps she's making the wrong choices because she lives with her father and he has to work so hard and he's never home. Maybe I should alert Mr. Swan…"

Finally Jasper, who looked like his head was going to explode off his neck, spoke.

"Mom, she's eighteen and an adult. You don't need to stick your nose into EVERYONE else's life. Bella is responsible and I don't think she'd be going out with some _delinquent_."

He took a deep breath which sounded almost like a wheeze.

"I've met the guy and he's really nice."

_He had? When? Why didn't he tell me? Oh that's right. He's pretending I don't exist._

"He's only one year older than she is, and I'm sure he's not some drug dealer or something. You keep saying how smart Bella is and now all of a sudden you don't trust her choices? She's not your daughter or _your friend's_ daughter, so why don't you just let her be?"

Mrs. Whitlock looked like someone had slapped her across the face. Jasper just picked up his plate and took it to the kitchen.

"We'll talk about this later, young man!"

She turned back to me.

"I'm sorry for my son's rude behavior. He used to be so polite and well-mannered. I don't know what's happened to him."

That was the second time today someone had told me Jasper was going through some kind of personality change. From his little speech, it sounded like he resented me and I might be the reason.

Whether he wanted to or not, Jasper and I were also going to have a little talk later.

JPOV

I followed the girls to journalism. I wasn't about to take a chance on them running into this James asshole when he seemed to have harassed both of them.

Though I suspected Alice could more than take care of herself if the need ever truly arose.

Once they were safely at the classroom, I headed for the Holt building on the other side of the campus. I walked in a few minutes late and mouthed an apology to Miss. Howards. She just smiled and waved at me as I sat down at the back of the classroom.

Jessica pulled her earphones out of her ears and leaned closer to me as Miss. Howards continued going over the homework the class had been given the other day.

"Why are you late?"

I leaned closer to her as well, keeping my voice down. The teacher didn't mind if her TA's talked or slept or ate in class, but it wasn't smart to push things to the point of losing unnecessary privileges.

"I was showing a friend to her class."

It wasn't a fib. Not really.

Jessica frowned in confusion, but thankfully Miss. Howards appeared by our desks just then, saving me from an interrogation that had been waiting to happen.

"Hey," she greeted cheerfully. "Here's today's homework… and here's the laptop. Can one of you also grade these tests?"

I took the tests because they would take longer and would keep Jessica from asking me any more questions.

I pulled out a red pen and set to grading.

It was easy to make it drag out for the entire hour and a half that class lasted. I did all the calculations mentally, even when Jessica offered me her calculator. I double and triple checked that I had correctly graded each test and scored it correctly. Then I asked Jessica for the laptop and input each of the grades, keeping the papers out of order so that it wouldn't fly by too quickly.

With ten minutes of class left, I grabbed everything and brought it up to Miss. Howards.

"Thank you, Jasper," she said cheerfully before going back to explaining something to one of the freshmen. I spent my remaining time handing back the homework, pausing and chatting a bit with the students.

Two minutes. And Jessica looked like she was bursting to ask me something.

I turned to Miss. Howards. "Hey, may I leave a little early?" I asked. "I have to stop by my locker."

"Sure," she said without looking at me. "Have a nice day."

"You too, Miss. Howards," I replied, hurrying to the back of the room and grabbing my bag off of the floor. "See you later, Jessica," I said hurriedly before rushing out the door.

I slowed my pace as I headed for English class. I wasn't sure why I was so against talking with anyone about Alice. I mean, there was the whole gossip issue, but it wasn't that big a deal. I just… didn't feel like sharing with anyone. It wasn't that I want to keep it all to myself, either. But the thought of talking to anyone about how Alice was living in my house - just down the hall - and we shared a bathroom and within her first day here she'd attracted the attention of some sicko…. Yeah, it didn't sound like appealing conversation to me.

Maybe it was because whenever Alice was around, I wasn't myself. She drove me up the wall, confused me, angered me, worried me…. I felt so many things at once when she was around or was a topic of conversation that I didn't know what to make of it.

It frustrated the heck out of me. I needed to be focused on my schoolwork, keep my grades up so I didn't lose my spots in the universities I'd been accepted to. I didn't need some girl from New York with discipline problems messing with my head.

I reached the English classroom and sat down at the desk in the Because Mr. K had let us choose our own seats, the first couple of seats in the center of the classroom were empty. No one wanted to be right in front, apparently, like it made a difference. Teachers can always sense when you don't want to be called on, and Mr. K more so than the usual teacher.

I pulled out my journal, the big, thick English book, and a couple of pens. Mr. K didn't give credit if you wrote in pencil. This was the second year all of us had taken English with him.

Mr. K was at the front of the classroom, a PowerPoint ready and waiting on the projector screen. He smiled at each person as they walked in and welcomed them back, always happy to see us. I was flipping to the back of my journal to start on the "creative section" he made mandatory, when I heard Bella fall into the seat beside me. She was grumbling under her breath about how much she hated climbing four flights of stairs as she dug out her journal and pen.

That meant Alice was here, I realized, looking up.

Of course, there she was, walking through the door and immediately arousing everyone's curiosity as I heard the whispers of several students. I'd known I'd have this class with her - the only other English 12 class would be the one before this when she was obviously in journalism, but I hadn't really comprehended that fact.

Today just plain sucked. I hated first days back.

Alice glanced at me, then quickly away and sat as far away from me as she could get. I grit my teeth and looked away from her, only to see Bella staring at me with an amused if confused expression.

"What?" I asked.

She smiled, shaking her head. "Nothing at all Jaz. Just wondering why you look like you want to throw the English book off the balcony."

I grumbled nonsense under my breath, not answering her, and grabbed one of my pens. Mainly what came out to fill the blank page of the creative section was a bunch of angry scribbled words that correlated with my current emotions.

Mr. K turned off the lights and smiled out over the classroom. "Good afternoon, everyone. I hope your breaks were enjoyable; I'll tell you about mine later. First, though, let's get started on today's presentation. I'm Mr. Kennedy and this is journal entry number one."

The title screen changed to a cartoon, and after a few seconds several people giggled. Bella was grinning and shaking her head, pressing her lips together to keep in her own laughter. We exchanged amused looks before facing front as Mr. K spoke again, talking about the cartoonist for about five minutes before changing the screen again. While the image was still present, it was smaller and next to it were questions.

"Describe the image in detail," Mr. K stated. "Then, write down why the image is funny." He paused a moment, before continuing, "In your third paragraph, why is it not all that funny? Finally, write about a time you showed some compassion or someone showed you some compassion."

The sound of pens scratching out answers filled the room as everyone ducked their heads to their desks and focused on the questions for several minutes. I was fine until I got to the last question, where I froze, stumped.  
I couldn't think of a compassionate moment.

I tried to think of a time someone was compassionate to me, and drew a big blank though I knew there had probably been several dozen instances. The same blank appeared when I tried thinking of something I myself had done. I felt like slamming my head on the table.

Glancing around, I saw everyone else writing away, as if they had no issues with this last question, and my personal frustration welled up again. What was wrong with me lately? I couldn't think of a time I'd been compassionate., Maybe I was just a jerk, I thought sarcastically. I mean Bella, who usually tells me everything, had been afraid to tell me about her boyfriend because she thought I'd be mad at her about it.

If only spam was the worst thing I had to deal with. If. Only.

Sighing to myself, I put my pen back to the paper and wrote about when I ran to open the door for an old lady in a wheelchair. I didn't really see this as compassion. It was plain courtesy to me, but the old lady had seemed so… grateful; she'd made the comment about how most young people didn't do that these days.

So basically, I BS'd my answer. It wasn't like it would matter too much… I'd go back and write about another time, later. When I could think of one.

I sat back in my seat, looking up to see Mr. K patiently waiting for most of the class to finish up with their answers. Bored, I flipped to the back pages of my journal, returning to my creative section. Doodles of utter nonsense appeared on the fresh page, one of them an image of trying to find parking this morning.

Bella tapped my arm and pulled my journal closer for a better look before grinning and muffling her snickering behind her hand.

"Okay!" Mr. K said, clapping his hands together once. Both Bella and I jumped and then smiled at each other in amusement.

People raised their hands, volunteering their descriptions of the image. Bella raised her hand to answer about why the image was ironic and funny. For the most part, I tuned out, only occasionally tuning in so that if Mr. K pulled a random volunteer, I'd know where we were at. It was one of those times when I was actually cluing in to the discussion that I heard Alice speak up.

"No, I wanted to read my answer."

I looked up, startled, as Mr. K said something about new students hiding and for her to go ahead with her answer.

Every single person in the room was staring at Alice, all of them dead silent and unmoving. It was a completely unnatural stillness, as if the classroom had been frozen over except for Alice's tiny frame standing up from her desk, journal held before her in her hands.

"I recently moved to town and I was feeling bad and missing my home. Someone offered to take me shopping because he wanted me to feel more at home by having me decorate my room, even though I know he doesn't like shopping."

As she spoke, I looked down at the desk, as if everyone was going to realize it was me and stare at me instead. I felt the heat in my face, even though no one was looking.

It hadn't been that big a deal. Really. I'd done it more to make up for my being a jerk to her than to make her feel better. She obviously didn't know that, and somehow that made me feel all the worse.

There was no way what I'd done was an act of compassion considering the real reason I'd done it. No way at all.

Alice sat down, and someone else was called on to read their answer. Bella nudged my arm with her pen, and I quickly slid my eyes to her to see the worry on her face. She mouthed the words 'Are you okay?', but I just shook my head minutely and looked blankly back down at my desk.

I was such a horrible person. Despicable, really.

As soon as Mr. K finished the presentation with giving his own responses and showing a few cartoons that had also been done by the cartoonist, he sat on his desk and told us about his vacation. He'd visited somewhere out of the country and down south, and apparently fallen in love with anteaters. We joked about how he - of course - must have also gone sailing because that was his thing. The rest of class passed quickly as he told us all about his vacation, the books he'd read, and some people shared their own trips and recent reads.

I was so glad when class was over. I packed up my things, smiling and shaking my head at Bella when she hesitated. I knew she was wondering about my reaction earlier. We were close enough that she'd been able to tell something was up with me, and that was both a blessing and a curse. It meant that I had never had to tell her when something was bothering me. She just knew.

It also meant I couldn't hide anything from her. And Bella could be really nosy if she wanted to be.

Today apparently wasn't one of those days because she nodded slowly and walked out the door. I threw my bag over my shoulder and walked to the door, smiling and nodding my head in farewell to Mr. K. As I stepped into the weak sunlight that had fought its way past the overcast sky, I saw Tyler walking next to Alice just ahead of me.

"…compassion. I'd love to see how you decorated your room some time." He smiled at her, though Alice didn't seem the least bit impressed.

Seriously, what was Tyler thinking? For one, that was just plain rude of him because anyone with two brain cells could figure out that while he might actually want to see how she'd decorated it, he was obviously interested in her. Secondly, did he honestly think that he had a chance? She was from New York City.

Not Central Valley, California.

She was way too far out of his league for him to even think he'd have a chance. What did he have to offer her? She'd probably seen movie stars and billionaires and rich glamorous people. Tyler hadn't even met the president of the college we attended.

"Yeah, well, it was nice meeting you Tyler."

She glanced over and saw me, frowned, and then turned and just walked toward the stairwell, disappearing inside.

Tyler saw me as well.

"Is she for real?" he asked, sounding both amazed and confused. Welcome to the club.

I glared at him and shoved by. Never had liked the asshole.

"What the fuck, Jasper?" he called after me as I opened the stairwell door,. "You got a problem?"

I gave him a narrow -eyed look. "You have no class at all, Tyler," I said in disgust and stepped into the dim stairwell.

Usually I went home during my free periods. I saw no reason to stick around at school when I could go home early, make a snack to eat while doing my work, maybe get chores done, and get a good start on dinner. Sometimes I stuck around and went somewhere with Bella, since she had this free period as well. There were other seniors that had this free period, so sometimes we hung with them, going to the mall or yogurt place a few blocks away.

But since Alice had to stay for AVID, that meant I had to stay to give Alice a ride. At least for the first few weeks. Maybe after that I could convince Mom it'd be better to give Alice a bus pass for these days so I could get home earlier. It was worth a shot, but I knew that for now, it was not going to happen.

I shoved my books into my locker, glad that I didn't have to bring any home since there wasn't any homework due in tomorrow's classes. Glancing around showed that everyone had already left, either for class or off to do their own thing.

I pulled my cell out of my pocket and called Bella. She never liked to go home during free period; her house was empty a lot because her dad worked long hours and her parents were divorced, and it made her feel really lonely. So I knew she was somewhere on or around campus where I could join her.

"Hey, Jasper," she said, sounding surprised. "What's up?"

"I have to stick around until Alice gets out of AVID," I explained, not exactly happily,. "Where are you?"

"Oh." She was silent for a few long moments and the awkwardness reached me through the phone. I frowned, confused. "Uh…"

"Never mind," I said, realizing she was trying to think of a way to politely say 'get lost,'. "I'll just go to-"

"No!" she said quickly. "No, Jaz, we're over in the bookstore. Why don't you… come meet Edward," she finally said, sounding like she was unsure she wanted me to.

"It's fine, I can just go to Barnes and Noble for an hour or so," I muttered. No reason to intrude on the secretive couple, I thought. Which made me realize I was still a little sour over the fact that she'd been dating this guy for a while without letting me know about it.

"No, come meet him," she said, more firmly this time. "I'll hunt you down if you don't."

"Fine," I relented gracelessly. Hanging up, I adjusted the bag on my shoulder and started for the bookstore. It was across the Quad, about a two minute walk. When I got there, Bella was standing outside, a guy's arms wrapped around her waist.

She smiled when she saw me, grabbing one of his hands and pulling him forward as I walked up the steps toward the store.

"Edward, this is Jasper. Jasper, this is Edward." She smiled over her shoulder at him and back at me, looking rather pleased and excited.

He held out his hand, smiling warmly. "It's nice to finally meet you. I swear every story Bella tells me has you in it somewhere."

I gave him a small, brief smile because somehow… I didn't doubt that. "Pleasure to meet you as well," I politely returned, shaking his hand. When we let go, his arms immediately returned to Bella's waist as if it were the best and most natural place to be.

"What do you two want to do?" Bella asked, leaning back against her boyfriend. Her brows scrunched. "I honestly can't think of anything."

I shrugged, glancing at Edward, who didn't seem as if he could care less where we went, as long as it was with Bella.

We ended up sitting at the stone table outside of the bookstore, eating junk food and talking. I was thankful that Bella and Edward weren't too touchy and kiss-y in front of me, like some couples tended to be. They never let go of each other's hands, and they'd often meet each other's gaze and grinned, but other than that there wasn't a whole lot of PDA.

It was always awkward when a couple would forget another person was there who they were making uncomfortable.

George, Jessica, and Jane joined us halfway through free period, sitting down at the table and joining the conversation easily. Jessica and Jane went to get some candy for themselves and came back outside, sitting on either side of me. Bella gave me a pointed look; I rolled my eyes. Where else were they supposed to sit?

Bella leaned over to Edward, whispering in his ear, and he glanced at me, grinning. I glared at him and he laughed quietly, burying his face in Bella's shoulder.

George and I both headed to the parking together, stopping by my car and talking about Friday night. A bunch of us guys liked to go to the basketball courts and play, since our school didn't have any organized teams or sports. Jeremy, Lee, Felix, and Ben all came over as well, and within minutes we had the game on Friday planned out.

We all chatted about our vacations. Mine was admittedly boring,  
while theirs sounded like they'd goofed around every day. I laughed at the story Jeremy was telling, shaking my head a little at their antics, when Jessica walked by, arms full of books, and lost hold of them.

I bent down, grabbing them, noting they were all college books. Biology, art history, political science.

"Here," I said, setting them carefully in her arms.

She grinned, looking relieved and happy. "Thank you, Jasper."

"No problem."

She walked away, tossing her hair out of her face as she balanced the books carefully in her arms and held her keys in her other hand. She really needed to invest in a backpack instead of a simple huge purse if she had so many books.

Alice walked up, her expression challenging, chin lifted in the air proudly. I heard one of the guys - I couldn't tell who - let out a low, soft whistle as she caught their attention as well.

"Hey Jasper."

"Hello Alice," I acknowledged, mentally bracing myself. They were gonna kill me for not spilling all the details about this, now that they had obviously realized I knew her in an outside-of-school capacity.

"Hey, I'm Jeremy." He held out his hand, taking Alice's in his and shaking it. "We have AVID together."

She smiled and nodded, looking rather apologetic. "Sorry, I didn't recognize you."

"It's cool," he assured her, grinning.

"Lee." Alice shook his hand as well. "We haven't had any classes together, yet at least," he added, laughing.

Felix and Ben introduced themselves as well, Ben telling Alice he was in journalism and English with her. Alice seemed glad to meet them, smiling and laughing as they cracked jokes and Felix finished Jeremy's story about vacation.

The whole time, they sent me looks of incredulous approval. Tomorrow, I knew each and every one of them was going to ask me why I didn't say anything about her.

Tomorrow afternoon, the whole school would know the story.

How wonderful.

Finally, they all seemed to remember that they had homes to get to, as did I, and walked off, laughing amongst themselves as they left in the same direction. I shook my head, unlocking the car. I waited for Alice to open her door and get inside, then followed and threw my bag in the back, while Alice clutched hers in her lap.

She didn't say a word, and just knowing her a short time, I knew that was really unusual. I wasn't used to having someone in my car on the drive home, so I didn't know what to say anywayWhat was I gonna do? Ask her about her day? I already knew about James, which was probably the most exciting thing that happened to her all day. Besides, I didn't wanna be meddlesome. If she wanted to tell me something, she would. Alice wasn't exactly shy.

When we got home, it was almost five thirty considering how long the guys had stuck around to talk, so I hurried into the kitchen to make dinner, dropping my bag in a corner out of the way. Mom was going to be home in thirty minutes, and if I didn't have dinner ready, she'd want to know why I got home late, and if I told her I was talking with the guys, she'd start in on one lecture or another. I knew I wasn't in the mood for any of those today. My fuse was obviously short for whatever reason and I was at the end of it already.

Sometimes, I swore I was a miracle worker.

I got dinner done in time and had the table set and ready by the time Mom walked through the front door. She paused to give me a kiss on the cheek, her usual comment of "Smells good" drifting to me as she hurried to her room to take off her heels and jacket.

Dad wasn't home yet. It was always a fifty-fifty chance he'd be home in time, and even then it wasn't very likely that he'd be entirely with us. I wasn't sure which was worse - him being absent physically or mentally.

Alice, Mom, and I sat down at the table. It was strange for me still, having an extra person there.

"So," my mom said brightly, "tell me about your day!"

Apparently, she had no problem with possibly meddlesome questions.

I was half-listening to the conversation, a little ticked because the last time Mom had bothered to ask about my day had been when I was like… in kindergarten. I froze, though, when Mom mentioned Bella.

My eyes closed slowly as she gave her usual opinion about Bella and me being perfect for each other for academic reasons, then snapped my eyes open and scowled at the plate as she mentioned me getting "side-tracked". It had been one freakin' time….

I quickly continued putting food into my mouth, almost nonstop. Mom wouldn't dare have me showing bad table manners by talking with my mouth full, and the usual follow-up to her future Bella Whitlock speech was "Jasper, why don't you invite Bella over for a study date this weekend. She can stay for dinner and you can take her home." Or it was "Jasper, ask Bella to Prom! That would be so romantic."

"It's too late anyway. She already has one."

I froze as Alice said this, my eyes flying to her, wide and warning her not to go there. She wasn't paying attention. When Mom mentioned possibly knowing him, I tensed, wanting to yell at Alice to stop right there and not breathe another word….

"Well, he actually goes to college there. His name is Edward Masen."

We were screwed.

Mom's face looked shocked, horrified, and was completely full of an almost arrogant disapproval. As she spoke, criticizing Bella for making wrong choices due to living with her father even though she didn't even know Bella's boyfriend and never spoke to Mr. Swan unless she had to. When she mentioned talking to Bella's dad, as if he wouldn't already know and it was any of her business, I snapped.

"Mom, she's eighteen and an adult. You don't need to stick your nose into EVERYONE else's life. Bella is responsible and I don't think she'd be going out with some delinquent."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down.

"I've met the guy and he's really nice. He's only one year older than she is, and I'm sure he's not some drug dealer or something. You keep saying how smart Bella is and now all of a sudden you don't trust her choices.

Though with Stockton, it was sometimes hard to tell. Still, I was pretty sure Bella would have realized if he was one by now and have dumped him like a hot potato.

"She's not your daughter or your friend's daughter, so why don't you just let her be?"

God, my mother was so nosy and intrusive. Could she not let other people live their lives and make their own choices for once? Standing up, the chair pushing back roughly, I grabbed my plate and headed for the kitchen.

"We'll talk about this later, young man!"

I rolled my eyes, ignoring her, and threw the food still on my plate in the trash. Faintly, I could hear her saying something about how I used to be polite and she didn't know 'what had happened to me'. I clenched my jaw against the urge to storm back out there and let her know I was pissed about how she talked about my best friend. Instead, I rinsed my plate off, then grabbed my bag from the corner and took the stairs two at a time. To top it all off, I slammed the door to my room. I figured I was in trouble anyway, so I might as well allow myself the petty yet satisfying action.

Once inside, I paced for a few minutes, working off the angry energy that was filling me.

Today. Sucked.

I thought for some strange reason about the cartoon in English today. The devil's face suddenly took on a strange likeness to my mother's, and the image changed to include a thought bubble. She was thinking all those things that she'd just said about Bella… and about me.

I kicked my bag, angry, and ended up stubbing my toe on my binder.

Then I fell on the bed and glared up at the ceiling, fuming and frustrated.

I so couldn't wait to graduate.

**So, B, how do you think that little talk's gonna go? I'm picturing a civil discussion, possibly over some tea and crumpets.**

**_Oh yeah, that's totally how Jasper rolls. He'll bust out the good china and everything for Alice...._**

**_I want to say, everyone, we are SOOO sorry for taking this long!!! RL caught up with us both, and this story got put to the wayside. Thank you for sticking with us and for being great enough to pester us too! ;D We love you all! We'll both try really hard not to take as long ever again!  
_**


	7. Chapter 7

**When we last left our Tiresome Twosome, they were passing love notes and sneaking into each other's bedrooms…no, wait…they had just finished dinner. Jasper had himself a tantrum and Alice had decided enough was enough with his assy attitude.**

**_Yeah… let's see how that works out for her, huh? ~snickers~_**

APOV

This was it. I was taking the bull by the horns. No more tip-toeing around Mr. Pocket Protector and his stupid mood swings. Today was the day I would get to the bottom if things. I marched upstairs and knocked on his door. Then I knocked some more. Then some more.

_Oh who does he think he's kidding? I know he's in there!_

I could play hardball.

"Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasper. Oh Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasper!"

Nothing.

"What's that, Mrs. Whitlock? Oh, Jasper won't let me into his –"

The door flew open.

"Mom, she's lying I just needed to put on a shirt – "

He stopped when he realized nobody was there but me. I just grinned

"You've gotta stop using my mom as a way to get me to do stuff."

"Sorry, it was the only way. Can I come in?"

He appraised me for a few moments, but then finally stood aside to let me in.

I was…shocked…appalled. Positively speechless. Yes. _I_ was speechless. I had expected his room to look like something out of _Nerd's Cribs_. You know, everything had a place and everything in its place. I mean, _my god_, look at the way he dressed. The way he acted. So boring and stuffy.

Instead, it looked like a cyclone hit it. Books littered nearly every available surface. It looked like a week's worth of clothes was on the floor. As if he got undressed in that spot and left the clothes where they fell. An open backpack was by his unmade bed, a stack of papers next to it. This looked like the bedroom of a mad scientist, not an OCD brainiac. Actually, it looked more like the bedroom of your typical teenage boy. Maybe there was hope for him yet.

The only impeccably clean surface was his desk. His laptop was open on top of it and it looked like he'd been writing a paper. Well, so much for "typical teenage boy." No faceboook or MySpace for this guy. No, god forbid, _porn sites_. I was beginning to think he was grown in a lab. Like Mrs. Whitlock special-ordered him or something.

"Well?" he said impatiently, bringing me out of my shock-coma, "What do you want?"

"What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean, 'What's going on with me?'"

"I keep hearing how you used to be this really nice guy and now it's like you're always PMS'ing and it seems I'm the reason."

There. Lay it on the line. Simple.

He just gave me this really weird look. "I _am_ a nice guy!"

"Yeah, to OTHER people."

He sighed. "What do you want, Alice?"

Mr. BigBrain needed me to spell it out for him I guess.

"I want to know why you HATE ME!"

_Is that simple enough for ya, Nerdilicious?_

"Who said I hate you?" he said, looking confused and angry. Oh brother.

"You ignore me at school and when we're home you won't even look at me. Then there was that dig you made at dinner about me. I see what's going on. I'm not STUPID!" I said, trying to keep it down but failing. His cluelessness was infuriating.

"What are you TALKING about? What dig?"

"When you were mad at your mom. You said something about 'her friend's daughter' meaning ME and I know I'm the reason you're all of a sudden talking back to your mom when she says you never have! It can't be a coincidence!"

"I was mad she said something about Bella. It had nothing to do with you!"

This was it. Go big or go home. I would not leave this room with my tail tucked between my legs. I could get through his thick skull.

"So when I walk into class and you don't say a word and look at me like I'm dipped in shit, you're saying that's normal behavior?"

He rolled his eyes. "I wasn't looking at you any way. And YOU'RE the one who sat all the way across the classroom."

This was the last straw. Nobody could be _this_ dense!

"BECAUSE YOU GAVE ME YOUR 'GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME' LOOK, ASSHOLE!

At this he looked horrified.

""Jeez. Chill out Alice. There's no need to curse like a sailor. If my mom hears you she'll ground us both."

I did my best to calm down. I didn't want Mrs. Whitlock getting involved in this mess and if I wound up getting him grounded, it would make an already horrible situation…horrible-er. He'd probably stop talking to me altogether and communicate through grunts.

"…and besides, I was _not _looking at you that way!"

"You're doing it right now!"

"You're crazy."

"Fine. Whatever. But I'm trying to get to the bottom of things and you're sitting there all 'Captain Oblivious.' What about when you totally ignored me in front of your friends like you were embarrassed?"

"I wasn't ignoring you! Jeez Alice! What's wrong with you that everything has to be about you?"

That was it. The last straw. I wasn't one to give up but I had to realize that I could keep talking until I was blue in the face and I'd get absolutely nowhere. Jasper had broken me.

"So that's it then? You're just going to pretend that nothing is wrong?'

"If anything is wrong it's none of YOUR business!"

He was on the defensive. I could see in his eyes that he couldn't be moved. "Fine. I'll just get out of your hair then."

"Finally," he said and turned away to sit down at his desk and begin typing furiously.

I stepped carefully over his clothes and walked out

Yes, Jasper was definitely closed for business. I didn't know what had happened in his life to make him this closed-off. I think he was scared to talk to his mom because she seemed to like to butt into his business, so maybe that was the reason he was so reluctant to say anything.

I was beginning to think that all his seriousness was because of her. She didn't allow him a lot of freedom. School, homework, dinner, and then a bedtime used for most ten-year-olds. It seemed like he hardly got to spend time with his friends. He had to race home from school every day to prepare dinner for his entire family. What teenage boy does that? Something told me perfection was always expected of him, and that was a lot to put on one boy's shoulders.

Plus, his dad might as well not live with them. I mean, he was almost never here and when he was, he really wasn't present. Like he had checked out of his own family. I was worried for Jasper that this was his role model. It was all he knew. Communication didn't seem like the order of the day in this family.

It made me miss my family dinners. Mom and Dad were at least interested in me and not so they could just pump me for information. They genuinely wanted to know what was going on in my life. I could always go to them with a problem and I knew they wouldn't judge. Jasper didn't have that outlet. The only person it seemed who knew him was Bella. Maybe I could find out something from her.

If I thought things couldn't get more awkward between us, I was wrong. Even though the grounding didn't happen, my prediction came true: Jasper was pretty much just using grunts, hand gestures and facial movements to communicate. I knew if I called him on it he'd just say "What? Maybe I just like some peace and quiet in the morning," or some BS like that because I knew he'd never admit to anything. Ever.

Maybe it was my approach. Jasper was a very non-confrontational guy and I was just the opposite. I didn't like to keep things inside where they'd fester and grow and become these huge deals. I liked to handle things when they were small and work them out before all hell broke loose. Better a small confrontation than an object-throwing screaming match later.

Of course, that's exactly what it turned into anyway. Well, not the object-throwing, but the screaming part, definitely.

I think Jasper's motto was "if you kept denying anything is wrong, it wasn't really happening."

I didn't get a chance to talk to Bella in the morning because Jasper was there and practically the only time he would smile was when he was with her, so I let it be. But I could tell from the way she was looking at us, that she knew something was wrong. Perceptive girl, that one.

I was hoping that we'd get some time alone together today. I needed some answers and I wouldn't get them from him.

JPOV

As soon as Alice was out of my room, I closed my eyes and let out a slow, deep breath and rolled my shoulders to release the tension that had gathered there. Tonight just wasn't going my way. First the argument with my mom, then _Alice_ had to come up here and chew my ass out over something completely ridiculous!

Okay. Maybe it wasn't _entirely_ ridiculous. I supposed I _had_ been ignoring her…somewhat. Okay, I'd been avoiding the hell out of her. But I had reasons! And I didn't have to explain myself to her!

It was just… I didn't want to deal with any of it. With the millions of questions and all the talk that explaining our… situation would dredge up. Just because my school was basically the Haven of the Academically Obsessed, didn't mean that we weren't like regular high schoolers. We may be _slightly_ more mature about some things, but gossiping wasn't one of them. In fact, it was worse. My classmates were so starved for drama that they made little molehills into mountains.

And I'd just been using her as an example of my mom's complete and utter nosiness.

_How_ that led Alice to the conclusion that _she_ was why Mom said my manners had somehow "changed," I had no clue. I didn't even get the whole hate thing. I hadn't been that bad. …Had I?

I shifted guiltily and shook my head, dispelling the thoughts. This whole thing was absolutely ridiculous. I focused on the paper I was writing, shoving Alice, Mom and my teenage angst out of the way to get my schoolwork done.

It didn't really work though, because not half an hour later, my thoughts were back on the whole thing. I rubbed my eyes, wondering what I could do about it. It _would_ eventually get out that she was living with me. Keeping it quiet like this… might not have been the best course of action. It would just invite more rumors.

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling. I could just hear Jessica's voice. _Jasper, why didn't you mention this sooner? Why all the secrecy, hmm? Is there something going on between you two?_

Oh yeah. I definitely hadn't really thought that one through, had I?

But what did Alice expect me to do? Go to her room and confess myself to her like some crappy romantic comedy? Tell her my deepest darkest secrets and my whole life's story as if it were sob-worthy, and then fall into her arms? Then we would sit and talk about our "feelings." Maybe I'd let her pain my toenails.

Puh-_lease_. This was the real world. There were no excuses for failure, not really. Most people simply couldn't accept it. They couldn't forgive it. And I wasn't going to open myself up to a complete stranger. Not. At. All.

What did I expect, though? That Alice was just going to magically understand my reasoning? That was even more unrealistic than me acting like I was in a bad romantic comedy. The gentleman in me insisted I apologize. But…my pride got the better of me. It was hard to admit I had been in the wrong. I usually avoided it at all costs.

The next morning, the tension was impossible to ignore. There were a few times when Alice tried to make conversation, but I kept my answers curt. A part of me was still bothered by the previous night, and I felt like being petty and ignoring her like she'd claimed I'd been doing the other day when I hadn't _really_ been ignoring her _that much_.

Of course, then I felt stupid for being such a _normal, immature_ teenager.

Eventually, Alice just stopped talking, which was a small miracle in itself. It seemed that was all she ever wanted to do.

I had a good half-hour until my class started, because I actually found a decent parking space. I followed Alice into the lounge, where Bella was sitting. I couldn't help but tease her a little as we sat down. Why she always came to school at the same time, even when she didn't have a class until later in the morning, I couldn't comprehend.

It was the longest thirty minutes of my life. Well, okay, not really, but it sure felt like it. Alice very pointedly avoided even looking my way, and I was so awkward over the previous night (and the voice of the gentleman in my mind, scolding me for not having apologized yet) that Bella quickly picked up on the tension. It was only a few minutes until she was eyeing Alice and me with sharp suspicion.

I stood up when it was time to leave for my class, feeling as if I'd been given a reprieve from facing a harsh judge. Aka: Bella. I rushed off to class, glad she hadn't brought up the obvious tension between my unwanted houseguest and me while we'd all been sitting there. Unfortunately, I knew Bella. She wouldn't let it sit. It would come up sooner or later and it wouldn't be pretty. I grimaced at the knowledge.

Yeah, Bella was going to worm this problem out of me and then she was going to make me apologize. I just knew it. Cue mental groan.

The only thing worse than admitting you're wrong when you don't want to, is when someone else makes you do what you knew you should have done in the first place.

**So, B, ya think a pedicure session is in their future? **

**_OH TOTALLY. Couldn't you tell? That is SO Jasper's thing._**


	8. Chapter 8

_When we last left our defiant duo, Alice tried to ask Jasper what was going on with him, and he responded just like you'd think he would. She figured Bella would be able to give her the 4-1-1 and would talk to her first chance she got. _

_**Just so you all know…We Grizzlies just LOVE this chapter, don't we D?**_

**Hey, B, does Jasper love getting A's? Does Alice love parties?**

_Lordy, Lordy, Lordy!  
I can't help it I like to party, it's genetic!  
It's electrifying Wind me up and watch me go  
Where she stops, nobody knows  
A good excuse to be a bad influence on you_

_Pink-Bad Influence_

**APOV**

We were sitting in yearbook class when I finally got a chance to talk to Bella. I had my head on my desk and was trying not to nod off. The schedule was still killing me. I had almost nothing to do. Bella was busy on the computer.

"So, tell me about Jasper. What's his story?"

She sighed. "I know it's kind of hard to get through that annoyingly calm exterior. I'm his closest friend and I'm sure I don't know everything about him."

I lifted my head, gesturing. "I know! He's just so infuriating. Trying to get a reaction out of him is like trying to get a reaction out of a statue."

"It's not personal," she said, putting her hand on my arm. "Look, he wasn't thrilled with you coming here in the first place because you would be a disruption to his routine. Jasper really digs routine."

"Yeah, I get that. He just seems to be angry at me all the time. People keep saying he's usually so calm and cool, but around me he always seems like he's about to blow."

"Really?"

"Yeah, like last night at dinner he yelled at his mom!"

Bella looked like I'd punched her in the gut. "He _yelled_ at his _mom_?"

"See?" I held my hand out. "That's what I'm trying to say. I mean, she said something about in a meddling way, but I have a feeling she does that all the time. Then out of nowhere he mentioned me in the middle of his tirade, so I try to find out what's going on and he just stands there all 'Alice I don't know what you're talking about' and I'm ready for the loony bin!"

She ran her hand through her hair. "That's his MO. You can't come at him directly. You need to finesse it. Take your time. When he feels attacked, he shuts down."

"Yeah, I noticed." I looked around, checking out if anyone else was listening. "Know what else I noticed?"

Bella leaned in. "What?"

"Even though he has a dad, he's taken on the role of the man of the house." Bella nodded. "He like cooks dinner for the family every night! I don't know any teenage boy who does that. His mom doesn't allow him to be a teenager."

"It's always been that way. I try to tell him to say something, but he won't."

"I mean, between having to go home right after school to cook the family dinner and his curfew, I'm surprised he has any friends at all!"

"I was really hoping now since I'm with Edward, he'd maybe become friends with him as well. He hangs out with the guys at school sometimes, but that's about it."

"And what's up with his dad? It's like even when he's there for dinner, he's not engaged. He's looking at work or reading a paper. I get the feeling that before I got there, nobody talked at the dinner table."

She shrugged. "There's not a whole lot of communication in that family, I agree. I try as much as possible not to go to his house. I can't deal with his mom."

"She's all right. I think she was starved for some female conversation."

Bella laughed. "I could see that."

"Well, anyway, thanks for your help. I think I understand a bit better."

She smiled. "Let me know if it makes a difference."

We were leaving school when I saw Bella with a tall really good-looking guy with messy hair. She flagged us down and came running up with a piece of paper in her hand.

She was huffing and puffing by the time she reached us.

"Hey guys!"

Jasper actually _smiled_. "Hey Bella, what's up?"

"Well, two things. First, I wanted to introduce Alice to Edward."

I looked up…way way up…at Bella's boyfriend and noticed he had startling green eyes and that air about him that said he had no idea how hot he was. He was looking at Bella like the sun rose and set above her head.

He finally turned to me. "It's nice to meet you Alice," he said, extending a hand in greeting.

"Nice to finally meet you." I shook his hand and noticed it was kind of cold.

"Hey Jasper."

Jasper jutted his chin toward him. "Edward."

Bella looked like she was jumping out of her skin. "So, anyway, the other reason is there's this party at Mike Newton's house tonight. Thought you guys might be interested." She handed me the flyer.

I looked at it like it was the Holy Grail. My prayers had been answered. I was saying "oh yeah!" as Jasper said, "absolutely not."

Well, of course Mr. Pocket Protector would look down on a party. I, on the other hand, was _thrilled_. Especially since the mess wouldn't be at _my_ house this time.

"Alice, you know we have a curfew. My mom will freak. She won't let you go."

I put my hand on my hip. "Who said I was asking?" I turned to Bella. "A tornado and an earthquake couldn't keep me away. I'll be there!" I said defiantly. Pocket Protector rolled his eyes. Whatever. Nothing could dampen my good mood. I was finally going to be amongst _people_ and stay up past eleven o'clock. It was like Christmas!

We were driving along in silence, as usual, Jasper's eyes peeled to the road in front of him. The guy was so _still_ all the time. I was a jumping, hopping, fidgeting mess and his hair hardly blows.

"So Jasper…"

I could see his whole body tense already, and I'd only said two words.

"I just wanna say that I know it can't be easy for you, having to babysit me. You already have so many responsibilities and—"

"It's fine," he said through gritted teeth.

I tried again. "What I mean is, I know you have a lot of pressure on you and I've completely thrown you off your game, so—"

"Look," he said, in the calmest voice imaginable, "I said 'it's fine.'"

Definitely code for_, "Shut up, Alice." _Not like it was going to work. I tried another tactic.

"What I mean is like I could alleviate some of the pressure. Maybe by helping you make dinner or something. I could—"

"Dammit Alice! What part of 'it's fine' don't you understand? I've got it covered. You being in the house makes no difference. I've always had to come home and make dinner for everyone. Yeah, there's an extra mouth to feed, but it's _fine_," he said, and suddenly the word "fine" sounded like another four-letter word beginning with the letter "F."

I wanted to tell him he didn't have to drive me to school anymore. I wanted to tell him I didn't need him. I wanted to let him know I could take care of myself – but I couldn't. I did need him to drive me to school and we'd all starve if I had to cook. Besides, one more word from me and I had the feeling he'd steer the car off the road and into a tree.

The flyer for the party said it started at ten, but who showed up right at the beginning of a party? Besides, I had some serious getting ready to do.

By the time eleven o'clock rolled around I was ready to go except…damn. How did I forget I didn't have a car? There was no way I could get Jasper to drive me. I'd have to steal the keys to the Uglymobile. This wasn't going to be easy. First of all, Jasper's room wasn't exactly the picture of neatness and second, I had to be stealthy, and I wasn't so good at stealthy.

As I stood outside his door, I realized I had another problem. It would be extremely rude to just walk into his room. Not only that, but he was a boy and what if he slept in the nude and was having a particularly happy dream about…I don't know…getting good grades or something? Maybe Little Jasper would be standing at attention. Maybe he would be holding Little Jasper and…oh hell. There was no light coming from the crack under the door. I put my ear to it and listened. No sound at all, but then it's not like he was particularly noisy or listened to his stereo really loud. I said a silent prayer and opened the door.

There he was, fast asleep at freakin' eleven o'clock on a freakin' Friday night. I looked around and didn't see the keys. His pants were lying on the floor near his bed. I managed to make my way over to the pants and picked them up…and that's when the keys fell out. Yep, definitely not good at stealthy.

He woke up and looked confused at first, and then looked up at me, nearly jumping out of his skin. The covers slid down and I could see his chest. I was momentarily distracted. That was a nice chest for such an uptight guy. Not that I'd tell him that. I was pulled out of my chest-haze when he drew the covers up to his chin and asked, in what can only be described as a shout-whisper, "What the hell are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?"

"Okay, first of all, it's not the 'middle of the night' and second—"

"Are you kidding me? Get out!" He pointed to the door.

"Fine. I'll walk to the party." I turned to leave.

"How do you even know how to get there?"

I looked back at him and held up my phone. "GPS."

He rolled his eyes. "You are _not_ walking to that party at this time of night! Besides, what are you gonna do? Walk back at three in the morning?"

"No, silly. I'll get a ride from someone."

He looked horrified. "You'd get into some stranger's car?"

"Really, Jasper. No, our _classmates_ will be there. They're not strangers."

"They could be drunk. I mean, we're not old enough to drink, but that doesn't stop them. What if—"

I'd had enough. I expected if he had pearls around his neck, he'd be clutching them right about now. "Goodbye Jasper. Go back to your dreams about schoolwork and filling out college applications. I'm going to the party."

"Wait!" I stopped…sooooo close to the door.

"I'll drive you."

I spun around, sure I'd heard him incorrectly, but there he was, getting out of bed. Yep, I was right. Mr. Pocket Protector was rocking some killer abs. When did he fit in workouts? I was in my chest-trance again.

He glared at me. "Would you please leave the room so I can get dressed?"

I was horrified he'd caught me. I mumbled, "Oh! Yes…yeah…I'll be waiting in the hall!"

Well that didn't sound stupid at all. I walked out of his room, humiliated.

He emerged like two minutes later. I don't know how he got dressed that fast. He had his keys in his hand and he stormed past me, and then turned around.

"I know you're not good at being quiet," he whispered, "but if you make any noise whatsoever and Mom catches us, I will make your life a living hell."

More than it was now? I found that hard to believe, but I didn't wanna push it.

"Yessir!" I saluted him. He just turned and kept walking.

We got in the car and he looked down at me. For a really long time.

"What?" I said, irritated.

"Why did you even bother putting on a skirt?" he grumped.

I looked down. It had ridden up quite a bit, but still, it wasn't that bad. It seemed he thought so, because he just kept _staring_.

"In your immortal words, _it's fine_. Just take me to the party and then you can come back and have your milk and cookies."

He finally started the car, his knuckles tight on the steering wheel. I wondered if you could develop arthritis from doing that.

"This is a mistake. If my mom never finds out about this, it'll be a miracle."

"Are you sure there wasn't like a body switch at some point? I think there's some really old man just living it up and having the time of his life somewhere. It's Friday night and most _normal _teenagers are out at parties and not locked in their room like it's a prison."

"My room is not a prison. I just don't like parties."

"Oh, so as a teenage boy you like going to sleep before your grandmother does? Excellent."

"You realize this is why you were sent here? Because of partying?" He gave me his patented Jasper all-knowing self-righteous face. What I wouldn't give to be able to wipe it right off of him.

"The key word there, old man, is _sent_ here. It wasn't exactly voluntary."

"You know what? I hope they catch you. Maybe then I'll get rid of you when they send you to juvenile hall or one of those boot camp places. I'd pay them to give me the video. That would be the best reality show ever."

"Juvenile hall? Really? They only send you there if…you know what? Never mind. And what do you know about 'reality television?' Isn't that relic you have in the living room circa 1972? Doesn't it only play old 'I Love Lucy' episodes?"

"Well, we'll see what happens when your grades start slipping," he sneered.

I shook my head. "Not gonna happen. You watch."

I didn't think it was possible to grip a steering wheel that hard and still be able to drive, but he'd had a lot of practice.

We got to Mike's and I realize it would have been quite a walk. Besides, I didn't know what I was thinking. I was wearing designer heels. Those things weren't built for comfort. Jasper stared straight ahead, just like I was used to.

"Thanks. See ya!"

I couldn't get out of the Uglymobile fast enough. God forbid someone would actually see me in this monstrosity, no matter how grateful I was for the lift.

I got inside and the party was in full-swing. Bella came up and put her arm around me. I could tell she was a little tipsy.

"Hello, my friend Alice! Where's my friend Jaspie? HA! I just made that up! 'Jaspie!'" she giggled, like it was just the most hysterical thing ever. Edward was right behind her, laughing his head off.

"Hey Alice. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Glad to be out of the "House of Oppression" and the eleven o'clock curfew."

Edward looked shocked. "What?"

"Ten o'clock on school nights."

"Do they think you're twelve?"

"I _know_! It's a form of child abuse." I looked around. "Looks like the usual suspects. Oh, is that Jessica? What is she doing to that blonde guy? Ewww!"

Bella rolled her eyes. "That's Mike Newton. This is his house so we have to be nice to him, but he's this douchebag jock who thinks all the women want him. I should go over there and kick him in the—"

Edward grabbed her by the arm.

"Remember what you said about being nice to him?"

Bella immediately brightened. "Oh yeah! Okay, I'll go over there and kiss him then!"

He held onto her tightly. "Yeah, not such a good idea. I think you've had enough."

"How much has she had?"

He laughed. "She only took a few sips of Angela's. Bella doesn't really drink. Obviously."

"I probably won't either. I need to keep my wits about me if I'm gonna sneak back into the house when I get back. I'm not good at keeping quiet when I'm stone-cold sober."

Suddenly I heard, "Fresh meat. Hellooooo there."

I turned around to find James staring at me like he'd been on a starvation diet and I was a Porterhouse steak.

He started to approach me when Edward stepped forward.

"I'll give you five seconds to clear out of here, James. After that, I throw your ass out."

James laughed until I thought he'd choke on his own saliva.

"You? Please, Masen. Just get outta my way so Fresh Meat and I can get our groove on."

Edward pushed him back.

"Take another step, asshole, and you'll find out what I can do."

James shoulder-checked him and Edward totally did a "Karate Kid" and pulled his arm back and swept his legs out from under him. James landed on his back, the air knocked out of him. The look of surprise on his face was pretty great.

By now, everyone had gathered around and most of the girls were looking at Edward like _he_ was a Porterhouse steak. With a side of chocolate.

"Get up, James, and get the hell out of here."

"Ooh! Can I kick him in the-"

"No, Bella."

"Shoot."

James got up and it looked like he was gonna go toward Edward, but stopped when a few of the other guys moved in on him. He put up his hands.

"I give. I give!" He looked at me. "Don't be a stranger, Fresh Meat."

He made a disgusting gesture which I answered by flipping him off.

The guys got closer and I guess James didn't like the odds, because he hightailed it out of there.

"Well that was fun! Bella, where are the cute boys?"

She gave me a look. "Are you kidding me? You go to our school, right?"

Damn. Just what I was afraid of. Only two cute guys. One of them was dating my new friend and the other might as well be a eunuch. My life totally sucked.

The front door was still open. I guess James didn't bother shutting it. Suddenly we heard yelling coming from outside. Oh no. What was James up to now?

We ran outside to find Jasper pinned to the ground, James' fist in the air. I yelled, "No!" but it was too late. He got Jasper really good in the eye. Edward ran and pulled James off of him and then he handed him off to some of Jasper's friends. He probably should have quit while he was ahead.

Well, it's never a party without a fight breaking out, right? Kind of like hockey. I bent down to Jasper, touching near his eye. He flinched.

"Sorry. How are you doing?"

He glared. "How do you think?"

Well, I couldn't say his rotten disposition was from the fight. I helped him up, but he really did most of the work.

"Jasper, are you okay?"

"Yeah, Bella, thanks," he said all sweetly. What the hell?

I smiled at Bella. "Well, it's been fun and all, but it looks like I won't be going back."

"I know. When the nerds get together to throw a party, it's not exactly 'high school kids gone wild' but more, 'high school kids trying to look cool and failing.' This is the most excitement we've ever had." This sounded more like the Bella I knew. I guess she was sobering up from her "sips." I laughed.

"You'll take care of him?" she said, looking concerned.

"Yep. I'll see you at school on Monday. Goodnight Edward." They said their goodbyes and went back into the house.

I turned to Jasper. "C'mon, that's gonna swell. I'll get you home so I can clean it and put some ice on it."

"What? You don't want to go back to your _party_? Weren't you having a _good time_?"

I needed to be nice. I didn't know what happened to make Pocket Protector think getting into a physical altercation was a good idea, but he'd obviously been pushed to the limit.

"Didn't you hear me tell them I was leaving? Just give me the keys," I said, holding out my hand.

"Oh darn, my keys." He looked around and found them on the ground where it all went down. He picked them up, clutching them tightly.

"Jasper, you can't drive with only one good eye. It's already swelling. Just give me the keys."

"Have you had anything to drink?"

"No, Dad." I held out my hand again. This time he just placed them in my palm.

"Thank you."

He started walking toward the car. I stood still and he must have realized I wasn't walking with him, because he looked back.

"What?"

"Let's wait till everyone goes back inside. I don't want anyone to see me driving that thing."

By some miracle, after a tense drive home, we managed to sneak back into the house without me crashing into something. We were in the bathroom having a tug-of-war with the first-aid kit.

"Jasper, just let me clean it."

"No. With how jumpy you are you'll probably wind up putting antiseptic in my eye and I'll be blinded."

I put my hands on my hips, trying to stay calm, and stared at him.

"Fine! Here!" He shoved the kit at me.

"Sit down on the toilet."

He pulled the cover down and sat on it. I couldn't believe he was actually going to let me do this. I prayed I wouldn't get antiseptic in his eye and blind him.

As I approached his eye with the cotton, he looked like he wanted to move away, but held still. Being this close, I couldn't help but notice how blue his eyes were and how nice he smelled. Not that I'd ever tell him.

He was looking up at me and for once he didn't seem like he totally hated me. He looked like a nice, normal guy. I kind of felt uncomfortable with him being like this. Our whole relationship was built on fighting. We'd had almost no polite conversations since I got here, the last being when we went to Target. Right now, that seemed like ages ago.

Maybe he realized the same thing, because suddenly he bristled. "Thanks. I think that's good enough."

I sighed. "I'll go get you the ice."

The mood was broken.

**JPOV**

I was dreaming about what I usually ended up dreaming about – damn chores of all things – but it switched up because suddenly this tornado came through the living room and instead of creating chaos, it made everything disappear. I was utterly confused; I mean, I knew I was dreaming, but this was just plain weird.

Small noises began seeping into my awareness, but they didn't wake me up until I heard a sharp clatter and I shot upright. It was dark and I was still half-asleep…until I saw the dark figure at the foot of my bed.

First thought? Someone had actually broken into my room. What were they expecting to find? This was _Lodi_ for crying out loud!

Second thought? I realized that the black shape was small, thin, and frozen, staring at me with a shocked, intent expression….

It was Alice, and she was staring at my chest like she didn't know what to make of it.

Uncomfortable, I pulled the blankets up and glared at her. "What the hell are you doing in my room in the middle of the night?" I tried to keep quiet, because if Mom thought she heard even the _slightest_ sound, we were sooo busted…but I was angry, so I wasn't sure how well I managed at the quiet thing.

She tried to argue that it wasn't the middle of the night – it was around a quarter after eleven, which in my book was close enough to midnight to count – but when I told her to get out she made some stupid comment about _walking_ to the party.

I tried talking her out of it, but when I pointed out all the dangers, she just gave me this really annoyed look. It was a look I was well familiar with; she thought I was lame for being concerned.

Well fuckin' ex-_cuse_ me, Alice Cullen.

But I couldn't just leave her to walk to Mike's party. Sure, it was Lodi, but still, that didn't mean something couldn't happen to her. She could get lost, despite her stupid GPS, or she could get a ride from someone who hadn't made good choices during the party or….hell, I just couldn't let her.

"Wait!" I threw back my covers, mentally asking myself how I got myself into these messes…. "I'll drive you." I glanced around my room for clothes to throw on and realized Alice was just standing there, staring again.

Damn, why the hell did she always have to stare like that? I knew I wasn't a jock or anything, and probably nothing like she was used to, but come on…I wasn't that bad was I?

"Would you please leave the room so I can get dressed?" I snapped.

She started, eyes wide, as she stammered and stuttered, and then slipped out of the room. I grabbed the jeans I'd been wearing, pulled a shirt out of the closet without even looking at what the hell it was – it didn't matter, because I wasn't going _in_ to the party anyway – and snatched my keys off of the floor.

I warned Alice not to make any noise and she saluted me like we were in the army or something.

Smartass.

Damn if she didn't look…well…hot. I was finding it really hard to take my eyes off of the hemline of her skirt. Actually, it was damn near impossible.

And somehow, once again, we were arguing. It seemed like she knew exactly which buttons to push to drive me out of my mind, and I just couldn't help myself with her. I wanted to show her I wasn't this lame dork like she thought, but the truth was… well, it was the truth. In a way. I didn't go to parties mainly because I didn't like to, but also because I didn't fit in. I was school-oriented; always had been and always would be, and she was…chaos.

Yet somehow she made it all seem wonderful and easy.

I didn't think it was too bad…until she said I couldn't possibly know about reality TV because our TV was so old it only got "I Love Lucy" reruns.

One, I just didn't like it, but _everybody_ knew about reality TV. It wasn't like I was living under a rock.

Two, I _liked_ "I Love Lucy." It was a funny show, but no way was I going to tell Alice that after _that_ degrading comment.

She was so cocky, though, as if she could do anything and nothing could touch her. It was…infuriating.

I stayed in the car as Alice went inside, almost skipping with her enthusiasm to be free of the so-called "prison" of my house. I leaned back in my seat, glad it was Friday and I didn't have to get up as early tomorrow. If I got up by eight, I could probably throw together breakfast in time and….

I couldn't stop thinking about Alice, dammit.

She'd been in the party for only a little while, but knowing Alice she probably had the attention of several guys. They seemed drawn to her perky personality, her easy-going manner, and her constant sunny grin.

I shouldn't have taken her to the party, but she'd have gone on her own if I hadn't. I really didn't have a choice. It was basically ingrained into me to be a gentleman, after all, and all types of unsavory sorts came to parties like this. They could get wild, people could lose their heads, and Alice was such a tiny girl….

Someone quickly sauntered out of the house, and for a moment I wondered if I was imagining things because, well, it just seemed too damn coincidental. The fucker from Delta who'd been bothering Alice and Bella had just walked out of the house.

I thought of hitting him with my car. Or maybe breaking into someone else's and doing it. Bad things happened at parties, and it wasn't like I owed Newton or anything. I didn't even like the kid, so who cared if he got in trouble for the party?

James looked back at the house as if considering, and for the first time, I didn't think.

I just… did.

I was a few yards away when he turned around and raised a brow. My teeth ached from the force I was using to clench my jaw, but somehow I managed to spit out the words.

"Leave Alice the fuck alone, got it?" I didn't usually curse, but this occasion seemed to call for it.

James looked unconvinced, eying me up in down in manner that showed he found me unimpressive.

"Who?"

"Alice. Short, black hair, nice-"

"ass," he finished. That wasn't what I was going to say. He grinned. "Ah, you mean 'Fresh Meat,'"

"Leave. Her. Alone."

He rolled his eyes. "Or what?"

I wouldn't lower myself to his level, I would not fight him. "I'll sic the cops on you."

The smirk on his face was sickening. "Dude, they'll only care if she didn't want it." He paused while I tried counting backwards from ten. "And trust me. That fine piece of ass wants me to spread those nice legs and-"

We both stared in shock after my fist hit his jaw, shutting him up effectively.

With a furious snarl, James launched at me.

I could admit I wasn't a physical guy; I didn't get into fights. I had no idea _how_ to fight. So James taking me down to the ground? Not _exactly_ an amazing feat of accomplishment.

There was a shocked shout of horror, and then pain burst around my eye. Thankfully, someone pulled James off – Edward, I realized as I sat up. Alice crouched down at my side, reaching out to gently touch my eye. I winced, hissing quietly.

"Sorry," she said. "How are you doing?"

Dumbass question. She did just see James deck me, right? I wondered what color the skin was surrounding my eye. I just snapped at her, asking how she thought I was.

"Jasper are you okay?" Bella asked, nibbling her lip worriedly. Her eyes were wide and kind of dazed-looking. Had she been drinking? I told her I was, just so she'd stop looking so worried. I felt really bad about that.

Alice and Bella talked for a few minutes before Edward and Bella walked back into Mike's house. Then Alice turned to me and said she'd take me home to put some ice on it.

I knew I was being an ass when I asked her if she wanted to go back to the party, but…well, I felt I had a pretty good case for being surly. She makes me drag her out to this damn party (well, maybe I did sort of volunteer), some asshole says horrible things about Alice which made me start a fight, and then I got my face beaten. God, how was I going to explain _this_ to Mom?

I was busy trying to think of a plan of action while also bickering again with Alice. I eventually just handed over my keys. It was easier and, well, okay, she was right. We waited a bit until everyone went inside because she didn't want to be seen driving my car.

Alice cared far too much about what other people thought of her.

By some miracle, we snuck through the house silently. I warned Alice about the creaky step, keeping my lips pressed tightly closed and breathing shallowly. I led the way into the bathroom, flipping the light on and digging under the sink for the first-aid kit. I grimaced when I saw the dust on it, then realized Alice was standing just behind me.

She reached for it, but I tugged it back. Then she got a good hold on the handle and yanked with all her (meager) strength. I informed her there was no way I was letting her clean my eye because she'd probably end up blinding me, but she just planted her hands on her hips and gave me "The Look."

I wondered if she realized that when she stood like that, straightening and thrusting her shoulders back, that she made it damn near impossible not to look… _there_.

"Fine! Here!" Anything to make her stop…just stop. I didn't need to be drawn into staring at her low-cut top with her…chest thrust out like that, her short skirt displaying her lovely, lean legs and hugging her hips, displaying just the slightest sliver of skin between her skirt and top….

She cautiously reached over with the cotton ball, looking rather nervous, which in turn made me uneasy. Maybe I shouldn't have given in and just ignored….

Oh, who was I kidding? A blinded eye would probably be the _only_ thing stopping me from staring when she stood like that.

As she dabbed around my eye, I noticed her eyes took on a gentle look. Her lashes were so _long_. How did girls get their eyelashes to look so full and long and…dark? I mean, it couldn't all be make-up, could it?

And if so, I wasn't complaining.

Maybe I could be nicer to Alice, I thought suddenly. She was trying, I knew that, and I was just being an ass left and right. She wanted to help, and what was the harm in that? Accepting help wasn't bad, was it?

Oh, yeah. I was sure Mom would go for that. Alice would be all "I'm helping Jasper because he does all this work and that's just plain lame!" and Mom would confront me and demand to know why I was pushing my chores off on poor, innocent, visiting Alice.

How much longer until I graduated again? I loved my parents, but moving out of the house was going to be the highlight of my year.

Suddenly, all rational thinking halted as she leaned in closer and one of _them _was pressed against my arm. I could smell her perfume and my thoughts…my thoughts…

I stiffened, telling Alice that it was good. She sighed, shoulders slumping glumly and muttered something about getting ice. I cleaned up the bathroom, heading for my room and then wincing when she hit the creaky stair. I took the ice from her and pushed it to my sore eye, muttering a half-hearted goodnight before slipping into my room and heading straight for bed.

The next morning, my face was _still_ sore and when Mom came down for breakfast, she gasped in horror, hand flying over her mouth, and her eyes widened. It was almost comical, except that I knew what was coming next.

"Jasper Hale what did you do?"

Alice glanced up briefly looking frightened before shooting her gaze down at her plate. I swallowed before calmly grinning.

"Relax, Mom. I fell out of bed last night and knocked my eye on my backpack. I must have hit the corner of my history book." I shrugged helplessly with a foolish smile.

Mom tsked, frowning scoldingly. "I told you that room needs to be cleaned up, young man! You look as if you've been in a fistfight," she huffed, and Alice choked on her water.

I shot her a warning look before looking back at my plate. "Yes, Mom."

**So, B, it looks like they'll be admitting their attraction and getting together any minute now, right?**

_**Uh, D… you DID just read what we wrote, right? Because I think I have a bigger chance of becoming the Queen of Chocolate than THAT happening, hahaha!**_


	9. Chapter 9

Hello to any faithful readers who've stayed with us … THANK YOU!

When we last left our gruesome twosome, Alice had gone to a party and Jasper fought James for her honor only to get severely beaten-down in the process.

When they got home Alice helped clean Jasper up and he got a bit … uncomfortable with the closeness and dealt with it in his usual mature manner: he acted like a jerk and ran away.

In the morning he lied to his mom about his black eye and told her he'd fallen out of bed and hit his eye on his backpack.

_So, B, I'm sure now that the ice is broken it's all just smooth-sailing from here on out!_

…_**sorry, give me a second to catch my breath D, I can't stop laughing…**_

APOV

It's been a month and a half since Jasper fought James. In that time he's grown more and more distant and surly. I hadn't thought it was possible.

If he was still about the only person my age I could talk to or spend time with, I would be a sad Alice indeed. But no! Thanks to Bella and Edward I've been having a faaaaaaaaaaabulous time. Every weekend I sneak out and go to parties. Awesome parties. Not as awesome as the ones I used to throw of course, because when Alice Cullen throws a party, it's an _event_, but still, for Podunkville they're actually pretty decent.

Every Saturday and Sunday morning Jasper greets me with arms folded, letting me know exactly what time I'd returned the night before, the vein sticking out on his forehead from the strain of reining in his temper.

Why was he so angry? How would he know what time I'd return home? Was he waiting up for me?

I always ask him if he wants to come, but he's never accepted. Thankfully Edward and Bella swing by to pick me up, because if I had to depend on Mr. Pocket Protector and his scowl of judgment, I'd be up a creek.

But if he was staying up that late anyway, why didn't he just come with me?

The only thing I could think of was that he had some sort of social anxiety disorder. Maybe he didn't do well around large groups of people. I mean, he had no social skills with me with at all, but he seemed to maintain a friendship with Bella okay, so maybe one-on-one he manages to be a decent human being.

It's hard to tell because his schedule doesn't allow for a social life. I would have mentioned something to his mom and let her know a healthy, young teenage boy needed to be around guys his own age, but something told me it wouldn't help his situation. It would probably make it worse.

Damn.

Well, like I said, Pocket Protector and his attitude no longer mattered to me.

And I was NOT concentrating on how hot he was. At all. I had plenty of guys vying for my attention. Why did I need a guy who constantly scowled at me? No siree. Thank you very much, but I'll pass.

Of course, when you _live_ with said hot guy, that kinda made it a little harder to ignore.

Whatever.

James called me a "spinner" today. I ignored him. Emmett came up and put his arm around me right afterward and gave James a look that told him to back off. Unlike Jasper, Emmett wouldn't wind up on the sidewalk with blood pouring from his face.

I think things got really bad between us when I aced my English exam and Jasper got an A-minus. He'd reacted in much the same way another kid would react to failing and just stared at his paper, white as a ghost. I hadn't wanted to show him my A-plus, but he'd demanded to know my grade. When I'd shown him my paper, I saw behind his eyes just so many questions, but he asked none of them.

The look he finally settled on was one that said, much like Dolph Lungren in that Rocky movie, "I will destroy you." I mean, sure, he's always kinda been ornery like a crotchety old man, but right then he'd looked like … like … well, he looked pretty hot.

He'd also seen me high-fiving the Locke Loungers one day and got that horrified/terrified/disgusted look on his face (very hard to do). I was right. They were just misunderstood. Maybe if Mr. Pocket Protector spent less time judging people and more time trying to talk to them, he'd find that out.

So I'd now learned to become a mind-reader, basically looking at Jasper's expressions and trying to figure out what the hell they meant.

I was getting pretty good at it if I do say so myself.

Tonight I was climbing through the window (turns out I'm a natural at climbing, who knew? Of course, I always took off my Jimmys) when I saw a dark figure standing there. I jumped and began to scream my fool head off when a hand clamped over my mouth.

Holy shit, it was Pocket Protector. What the hell was he doing in my room?

I just looked at him, he looked at me, I looked at him, he looked at me. And this would all be fine and dandy if he still didn't have his hand over my mouth.

I guess he realized because suddenly he looked at his hand as if it wasn't attached to his body and flung it away like I'd bitten him. Or I had cooties. This boy was bizarre.

He seemed to regain his composure, looking at me like a disapproving parent. "Do you know it's three a.m.?"

I rolled my eyes. "Did you sneak into my room to scare the life out of me just to inform me of the time? That's awfully nice of you since they don't have that recorded voice anymore."

"You keep coming home later and later, and eventually you're going to get caught. Do you know what will happen then?" he said in his best "tsk tsk" voice, the one I'd become awfully familiar with.

"If I tell you I don't care, will that stop you from telling me?"

"Why are you doing this?" he said.

I stared at him, trying to see if he was being serious. He seemed to really want to know, so I said, "Because you may like being in prison, but I don't. I'm being a good girl, going to all my classes for seven hours a day, and getting all my homework done. So what if I want to be a teenager on the weekends? I know you seem to forget, what with the geriatric who's invaded your body, but we are in fact _teenagers_ and the schedule you keep is not _normal_."

"And what would you know about 'normal?' "

"Do you ever have any fun, Jasper? I mean, just let loose? Do something that isn't scheduled or planned by your mommy?"

"What's it to you?"

"Maybe you need a fun nickname. I'm gonna call you 'Jazz.' "

He choked. "_Jazz?_"

I smiled really wide. "Yeah."

"I won't answer."

"As if you ever did. You're like an errant dog."

"Don't call me a dog!"

"Maybe next time we're at school and you're pretending you don't hear me when I call you, I can say, "Here Jazzy Jazzy Jazzy! Here, boy!"

"You wouldn't!"

His scowl had reached epic proportions. It was awesome. And incredibly hot.

Not that I noticed

"Try me."

I turned around and opened up my dresser drawer that held my jammies.

"Listen, young lady-"

I turned around and just stared at him. He seemed to realize what he'd just said and stopped.

"Jasper, look, I can see you're a bit unhinged here. It's way past your bedtime. Why don't you just go to your room, get in your bed, and dream about tests, or whatever you usually dream about."

I swear he was _this close_ to stomping his foot and throwing a tantrum.

He was whisper-shouting again. "I will _not_. You may order everyone else around, but I will go where I want to go when I want to, and there's nothing you can do about it!

"Fine," I said. "No problem."

With that, I stripped off my dress. He got a good look at my pink silk undies. Frankly, I thought the prude Mr. Whitlock would have gone running, but he just stood there, eyes wide, slack-jawed.

HA! Finally something that flapped Mr. Unflappable.

I crossed my arms over my chest. "Enjoying the show, Jazz?"

That brought him out of it. He turned on his heel and stomped out, but of course he couldn't slam my door and he shut it very carefully, completely ruining his huff.

That was invigorating! And fun! Little did I know this was the beginning of some very interesting times.

JPOV

I remember when I was a little kid in grade school our teacher did a science experiment with an egg, a match, and a bottle. The match burns up all the oxygen and sucks the egg into the bottle so that it cracks into a complete mess. All the other kids were talking about it like it was a magic trick, and I was standing there trying to explain that it wasn't, it was science.

I'd never really fit in with the other kids, and I remember after that, they'd wanted to talk to me even less.

Grab a thesaurus and look up a synonym for "dull" and I've been called it, including party-pooper, killjoy, and just plain old "boring." It hadn't really bothered me too much; at least, I was pretty sure it hadn't. Sometimes, rarely, my mind would spin with those words, twisting and turning them and trying to find the truth and reality.

It'd been happening a lot more often since Alice had moved in with us.

I felt like that egg, honestly. Like I was being attacked by this unseen force and it was trying to break me, or something equally dramatic. I wasn't prone to dramatics – that was Alice's job. I tried to convince myself that my life was fine and I was just feeling the pressure of waiting for replies from colleges and senior project and calculus – which was much harder than I'd thought it would be. I was allowed to feel a little pressure, so long as I didn't break.

The whole "my life is perfectly fine" mantra started suffering when Alice had passed her test with flying colors, and I had been a single point away from a B.

My mom had this saying – "A 'B' is a 'B' is a 'B.' " It was only with A's that it really mattered whether you'd gotten a plus, minus, or average. To her, a B-plus was no better than a B-minus. A "B" was little better than failing.

So Alice passed the test perfectly, and I _hadn't_. I'd been _this close_ to a damn "B" and she had aced it.

My mom. Was going. To kill me.

See, it wasn't like I handed her all my work for her to check my grades, and she didn't sneak into my room to look at them (at least, not that I knew of). For some reason our school thought it would be a brilliant idea to post the grades online where parents could check them at any and all times. My mom checked mine _every single Friday_. Without fail, after dinner, you could find her on her laptop at that website, scanning all the week's homework assignments and test scores. Most of the teachers were really lazy about posting the grades, which annoyed my mom but brought me some relief.

Unfortunately, the particular teacher that had given that fateful test … was not one of the blessed lazy ones.

When I'd seen the grade, I knew I was in deep shit. And when I realized Alice had done better than I had, I knew I was in deeper shit. Because of _course_ Mom would check Alice's grades as well, to assure her friend that Alice was doing grandly here.

My hands had been shaking like I was experiencing my own personal earthquake as I did the dishes that Friday. Alice had already gone upstairs to her room after offering to do them for me. She did that every once in a while, and I always said no. It was … easier just to do them myself.

I kept glancing over my shoulder, waiting for my mom to appear, or maybe for a wild dog to race into our house and give me rabies so I'd need to be rushed to the hospital.

I scolded myself for the dramatics, but it didn't stop my mind from spinning out some impressively crazy things.

My throat was clogged tight with nerves and fear. I hadn't felt this nervous since the letter about whether or not I'd made it into MCHS arrived. I licked my lips for the dozenth time when-

"Jasper, when you're finished with those dishes, I'd like to have a chat with you."

Damn. Her voice was calm and a little quieter than usual, and I didn't have to turn to look at her face to know what expression she'd have. It would be flat and still and unimpressed.

I was a dead man.

I took a moment to allow my mind some minor hysterics in an attempt to get it out of my system so I could calm down. Did I have anything valuable that I wanted to pass on to a friend or family member? I bet Bella would like some of my books. Even if she was more of a party girl than she used to be, she was still my friend Bella and loved to read.

And didn't Tyler like that jacket I'd worn the other week? If I was dead, I supposed he could have it.

Finally I shook the foolish thoughts from my head and finished up the dishes, silently preparing for what I knew was coming. A lecture. My mom wouldn't be angry or anything like that; no. She'd pull the disappointment card and somehow make my A-minus into a catastrophe.

Maybe it was. I hadn't gotten a grade that low on a test in a while. What had I done wrong? Was I not studying enough? Not focusing enough? Perhaps I needed to stop playing basketball with the guys during free period twice a week and instead spend my time studying, like the school had meant that time to be used for.

My tongue was thick as I paused outside of my mom's bedroom and knocked on the door. She told me to come in, and I entered cautiously, holding my hands behind my back to hide the fact that they were still trembling.

Mom was sitting at the foot of her bed, her laptop beside her and her hands folded in her lap. She stared steadily, calmly, but with that disappointed taint that made me feel like a misbehaving child. I didn't feel six feet tall, I felt like I was once again barely hitting three feet and being lectured for calling Timmy Perez a disgusting swine for talking with his mouth full and spitting food on my face.

Mom sighed, and it was full of that heavy disappointment. I drew in a silent, deep breath in preparation.

"Jasper, is there anything you want to talk to me about?"

This was a trick question, I was sure of it. No, Mother, I actually don't want to talk to you about anything. I want to go upstairs and be allowed to feel _relief_ that I _hadn't_ gotten a "B" instead of horror that I had been so close. I want you to simply ignore my grades, or at least not watch them like they were highly explosive.

Did she want me to tell her about the A-minus? Or was she asking if there was something bothering me and that was the _reason_ I got the A-minus?

Deciding it was safe not to say anything, I mutely shook my head and shrugged my shoulders, wincing mentally as her eyes narrowed. She didn't like that answer, obviously. She pursed her lips before she twisted her laptop around until the screen displayed a grade page.

"Why didn't you tell me you almost got a '_B'_ on that test, Jasper?"

The way she said "B" made it sound like she was saying "F" or "rancid garbage" or something equally horrifying.

I resisted the urge to shrug and instead chose my words carefully. "But I didn't get a 'B,' I got an A, Mom, and I figured I'd take more time to study."

"And what time haven't you been using to study? Why on earth are you slacking, Jasper? This isn't the time," she said earnestly, gently. As if she were talking to a wayward …

Ah, hell, she was talking to me like I was a delinquent.

I felt my face heat up at that as she continued, telling me how I shouldn't take the easy route and slack off, that colleges paid close attention to grades in senior year, and if I wanted to get into a good UC, then I had to put in more effort now than ever before. Not once did she raise her voice. Not once did she say anything specific that was a putdown.

She just wasn't … satisfied. It was that, plain and simple, and I felt like I'd let her down. I felt like I had fucked up and I felt … ashamed.

"Jasper, I just don't understand." She sighed. "You were doing so well and then …." She trailed off, frowning with obvious concern. "I heard that Bella's been going to those parties recently. Is she … what I mean to say is, if she's being a bad influence-"

Seriously? Alice went to those parties every weekend and my mom was getting on Bella's case about it? On _my case?_ I'd never been to a party _once_ and she thought…!

"Mom!" I said loudly, exasperated and annoyed and actually feeling a slow burning anger in my gut. "Bella has nothing to do with my getting one fucking A-minus!"

"Jasper!" she scolded, sounding shocked as I glared at her. "Language! Honestly, what happened to my son, the good one that was polite and a gentleman? The one who brought home straight A's."

I clenched my fists at my sides, hands shaking for a different reason now as I glared at the floor. The emotions that had welled up were started to ebb again, leaving me with a disconcerting mix of defiance and embarrassment over my outburst.

When I was finally allowed to leave, I went upstairs, pausing at Alice's door and listening. I didn't hear anything, but I knew she wouldn't sneak out until Mom went to bed.

I tried to study more, staying up later and later. Usually, I ended up failing when I did that, because I couldn't focus due to lack of sleep. On weekend nights all I found myself thinking about was Alice: _Was she home yet? Where was the party this time and what was happening? Was she drinking and dancing and flirting with the guys there?_

Lord knew they were flirting with her. I had to listen to them all talk about her _all the time_. In class, during lunch, in the locker room, while waiting to drive home.

Bella wasn't helping much, talking about the parties every Monday morning. I figured she was trying to make me feel included even though I never went – though Alice always asked me to.

I was pretty sure she didn't want me there, anyway. And what was I going to do at a party? Stand around and feel more and more awkward? Get beaten up again and have everyone gape at me? No, thank you. Besides, after what my mom had said during the almost-B lecture, there was no way I could go to one.

As it was, Bella and Alice were always talking about how much fun they had together, laughing about the antics of classmates, jokes that had been created, and – on Alice's part at least – what people had been wearing.

"Jasper, Alice is so much fun … if you'd take some time and just talk with her instead of getting defensive and snappy-" Bella had said that or some version of it more times than I could count lately. I supposed it made sense.

Girls stuck together. They were true pack animals. I'd learned about girls as a microculture in my anthropology class last year. They preached loyalty and supported one another against anyone considered outside of the group.

I was a guy – that kind of guaranteed I was outside of the group.

I usually succeeded in controlling the dramatic, ridiculous thought that I was losing everything to Alice. My best friend – okay, fine, basically my _only_ real friend, my own parents, my academic standing….

I had no idea how she did it. She partied every weekend. I never saw her studying, yet she pulled out these perfect grades that had my mom actually congratulating her at the dinner table all the time. I couldn't remember the last time my mom had done that for me. She praised Alice up one side and down the other, but I never heard a positive word.

On top of that, somehow my mom had come to the conclusion that Alice was a perfect girl who never did anything wrong under Mom's oh-so-watchful eye. Somehow, Alice managed to sneak out every weekend and sneak back inside.

I managed to convince myself, for the most part, that none of it bothered me.

It shouldn't. It didn't.

I would study late into the night, glancing at the clock every so often, glaring at my door as I waited to hear her sneaking down the hall to the bathroom to clean off her makeup before bed. I never really managed to get as much studying done as I probably should have, given how late I usually ended up listening for her. I would grow irritated each time she snuck back inside successfully, each party ending later than the last. It was rather infuriating that she seemed to be able to balance a life of rule-breaking and academic success.

I announced what time she had gotten home after each party, though I couldn't explain _why_. Alice, in all likelihood, knew exactly when she'd gotten back. She never seemed repentant about it; not even slightly apologetic or guilty. She really just seemed annoyed by me.

I should have let my mom know what was going on. Alice had been sent here to stop her from partying. Here I was letting her get away with it weekend after weekend.

I never did tell my mom though. Never even hinted at it.

Tonight was the last straw. It was after two in the morning and Alice wasn't home yet. I'd heard my mom wake up and get a glass of water downstairs around one. My heart had been racing and then stuck in my throat, choking me, because I'd been panicking over whether or not she'd make a late-night bed check. Thankfully she hadn't; I wasn't sure what I would have done if she had.

Eventually I couldn't stand it anymore so I tiptoed down the hall and listened at Alice's door, but heard nothing. Could she be sleeping? No. I would have heard her come in. She wasn't there. Feeling odd and confusingly embarrassed about what I'd just done, I kept going until I was downstairs in the kitchen. I grabbed a glass of water and came back up. I tried to study for my calculus midterm that was approaching rapidly. Next Tuesday, in fact. I was struggling in the class, and I _had_ to get an A on the midterm or my grade would drop significantly.

I managed to study for maybe thirty minutes before I caught myself staring out my door into the hallway, scowling absently and glancing periodically at my phone. It was late and Alice still wasn't back.

What if something had happened? What if James had shown up again and Alice was caught unawares? I knew he still messed with her a bit. Edward had said Emmett mentioned it, but Alice hadn't said anything about it to me.

Maybe not James, but what if it was some other guy? All the ones I hung out with talked about how hot she was and how they'd totally do her. They were good guys, but even the nicest people did stupid and terrible things when they drank. And I knew they all did, despite it being stupid and illegal.

I wondered, only for a moment, if it'd be strange to call Alice to ask her when she would be getting back. _Definitely_, I answered myself. And if I called and checked on her via Bella, then she'd tell Alice which would likely be even more awkward.

Did Alice even have her phone? What if she'd left it and was stranded?

Before I could think it through, I carelessly tossed aside my calculus book, wandered back to Alice's room, listened again, and opened the door. I slowly crept around in the dark. I thought about calling her phone and seeing if it lit up, but what if she didn't have it on silent? Then that stupid Britney Spears song about her wanting to go all the way (I wish I didn't know that) would blast through the house. I didn't dare turn on the lights. What if Mom woke up again and saw the glow?

Then _both_ Alice and I would be screwed. Mom would look at me again like I was a delinquent, or worse, a peeping Tom. She'd probably accuse me of going through Alice's underwear drawer. Look what she did over an A-minus. I think creeping around a girl's room in the middle of the night would warrant much more serious punishment. Then I wouldn't have to worry about what university I'd get into. Mom would make sure I wound up in jail.

I didn't find Alice's phone, but I wound up lingering, looking around in the dim moonlight. Maybe I was a creeper. She'd covered the walls completely, posters and quotes covering every available space. Her room was extremely clean and organized if one didn't count the chaos of her walls. Her bed was littered with pillows.

I heard a faint noise at the window and crept over just as Alice jumped from the tree outside and slipped through. Damn, that was … kind of impressive.

She froze when she saw me and I realized just a split-second before she did it that she was going to scream. I lightly slapped my hand over her mouth, staring down at her in a slight panic. She relaxed a bit as she recognized me, and then stared up at me.

We were close. I tried not to get too close to Alice very often … or, you know… _ever_, because she smelled so good. And her skin was really soft. She was tiny, but in no way was she not well … um, _endowed_.

And right now, I was close enough that if I shifted even the slightest bit, we'd be pressed together and I'd be feeling all that generous-

I'd been glancing down, like her damn chest had magnets or something that my eyes had no choice but to respond to, when I finally looked up and saw my hand was still clamped over her mouth. I pulled back quickly, stumbling away, trying to clear the haze in my mind that cropped up whenever I was too close to her. It felt like my hand was burning, and I had no idea how to make that stop or go away.

I wasn't even sure how it started, but once again we were arguing.

Not even that. It was more like Alice was accusing me of having no life and not understanding what it meant to have fun or something, and I felt myself getting defensive. Because it wasn't true. It wasn't.

Really.

I ignored the small, nearly inaudible voice that whispered I was getting so defensive because she was so close to hitting the nail on the head. My life hadn't revolved around anything but schoolwork for a long time. Even more so recently since that damn almost-B.

Somehow, Alice had come to the conclusion that she was going to call me "Jazz." I couldn't even wrap my mind around that one. Why on earth would she call me that? I liked my name well enough – it wasn't cool or anything, but it was different and nice enough. Jazz just sounded … not me. In fact, it sounded like the complete _opposite_ of me. Jasper was official. Jazz was chaotic. Jazz music wasn't exactly planned out, often breaking into solos that were made up on the spot. It was spontaneous.

I was neither chaotic nor spontaneous. Why would she call me that?

I prayed she wouldn't use that name in front of my mother. Mom would probably jump to the conclusion it was another form of rebellion or something ridiculous like that. I didn't need any more concerned lectures about my future from my mom.

I could hear her already, her voice loud and clear in my mind. "Jazzes don't get into UCs; Jaspers do."

Next thing I knew, Alice had gracefully pulled off her dress, just dropping it on the ground, and standing there in … I don't know what to call it. Certainly it wasn't underwear. It was too… too… feminine and distracting and …. _Really_, undergarments shouldn't be allowed to look so decadent.

It wasn't fair to the male population.

I had to think of something else besides how good her skin looked next to that pink scrap of cloth. Like … calculus. Yeah, I really should be in my room reading about calculus and formulas and _not_ wondering which was softer – the underwear or Alice's skin. And I seriously shouldn't be creating inappropriate images of running my hands along every portion of her skin I could see.

And maybe then some I couldn't.

I was as bad as the guys – worse, even. I had snuck into her room.

Alice called me out on my ogling and I somehow found the means to finally convey the message to my feet that we needed to get out of this dangerous room. I twisted and managed to get out, taking care to close her door quietly so Mom wouldn't hear. I made it back to my room in record time.

One look at the calculus book on my bed brought back images of Alice.

Good Lord, I'd tainted calc. I really hoped it would wear off by the time my midterm came around, because fantasizing about Alice instead of thinking about formulas wouldn't help me pass my midterm.

The next week wasn't a good one for me. I found myself watching Alice far more than I should have. Like at dinner the day after the Bedroom Incident, I watched her lips. They'd felt soft on the palm of my hand, I recalled. They were a pretty pink, darker than the panties she'd been wearing. Was that due to lipstick or were they just that color naturally?

And why was I even thinking any of that?

At school one day, Alice's arm brushed mine as we entered Locke Lounge, and goose bumps raced in a wave across my skin. Alice smiled at everyone, was stopped by several people, giving most of them these tight hugs that lifted her onto her toes. She was even on speaking terms with a couple of Locke Loungers. Bella liked to tease her about that – something about a "Save the Locke Loungers" campaign or something.

When Alice was sliding out of the car one afternoon, I caught a fast, brief glimpse of red at the top edge of her jeans. That night, I had dreams of Alice again – this time in red instead of pink. I couldn't bear to even glance at her the next morning due to overwhelming embarrassment.

Many times, I came to the startling realization that I wanted to touch her as casually as everyone else seemed free to. I wanted to see that easy, true, friendly smile directed at me for once, instead of the guarded one that held more politeness than any true feelings.

I really wanted her to laugh at what _I_ said and not at Tyler's lame and corny jokes.

I watched her more than I studied, though thankfully no one seemed to notice. I had a sinking feeling I would live to regret this … this _obsession_ after I'd failed my Calculus midterm, but for right now, I couldn't find it in myself to care enough to stop.

There was something magnetic, commanding about Alice. Something that pulled at me.

I could really only hope I wasn't going to end up like that egg in the science experiment.

_"Hey, B, do you think Alice's boobs hold some magical power that will turn Jasper into a really nice guy who has the ability to loosen up?_

_**Well, D, if they can't, I don't think anything can… Here's hoping! ;D**_


End file.
